What Does This Dashboard Measure?
The dashboard examines two key metrics related to food consumption beyond ICMR-NIN recommended daily levels for a reference adult woman (55 kg, moderate activity, non-lactating). The mean excess consumption (in grams) measures how much a group consumes above the recommended threshold, while the proportion consuming in excess captures the share of households whose daily per-capita intake exceeds the guideline.
Together, these metrics provide a detailed picture of over-consumption patterns — a critical dimension of India's nutrition transition that complements the more commonly studied problem of under-consumption and dietary deficiency.
What Food Groups Are Covered?
The analysis focuses on two food groups where excess consumption has significant nutritional and public health implications:
Cereals & Millets
The traditional backbone of Indian diets. Excess cereal consumption often crowds out more diverse food groups and may indicate limited dietary diversification despite rising incomes.
Fats & Oils
Rising fat consumption is a hallmark of India's nutrition transition. Tracking excess fat intake across expenditure deciles reveals how dietary patterns shift with economic status.
What Can You Explore?
Temporal Comparison
Switch between HCES 2011-12 and 2023-24, or overlay both rounds to observe how excess consumption has evolved over the decade.
Demographic Breakdowns
Disaggregate by sector (rural/urban), state, religion, social group, NSS region, household head gender, and presence of children.
Expenditure Gradient
Visualise how excess consumption varies across ten expenditure deciles — revealing whether over-eating is concentrated among the affluent or distributed more widely.
Dual Metrics
Toggle between mean excess (grams/day) and proportion of households consuming in excess — capturing both intensity and prevalence of over-consumption.
Confidence Intervals & Downloads
All estimates include Bayesian 95% credible intervals. Export individual charts as PNG/SVG or download the full underlying dataset as CSV.
How Is Excess Consumption Estimated?
The analysis is based on unit-level data from India's Household Consumer Expenditure Surveys (HCES) conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) — specifically the 68th round (2011-12) and the most recent 2023-24 round conducted by MoSPI.
For each household, daily per-capita food consumption (in grams) is computed from reported monthly quantities. The ICMR-NIN Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) for a reference adult woman (55 kg, moderate activity, non-lactating) serve as benchmarks — 280 g/day for cereals & millets and 25 g/day for fats & oils.
Mean excess consumption is defined as the average daily grams consumed above the RDA threshold, conditional on the household consuming more than the recommended level. Proportion consuming in excess captures the share of households whose daily per-capita intake exceeds the recommended level.
All estimates are produced using a Bayesian multilevel framework, yielding posterior means with 95% credible intervals. Estimates are disaggregated by expenditure decile (using log MPCE) and by seven demographic dimensions: sector, state, religion, social group, NSS region, household head gender, and presence of children.
Data Sources & Attribution
Survey data: NSSO 68th Round HCES (2011-12) and MoSPI HCES (2023-24)
Dietary benchmarks: ICMR-NIN Recommended Dietary Allowances for Indians (reference: adult woman, 55 kg, moderate activity, non-lactating)
Research: Centre for research on the Economics of Climate, Food, Forestry and the Environment (CECFEE), ISI-Delhi Centre
Ready to explore the data?
Launch Dashboard