As per the National Family Health Survey 2019-21 (NFHS-5), the percentage of men aged 15 years and above who use any kind of tobacco exceeds 40% in most parts of North Eastern states. For Nagaland, the NFHS-5 recorded that 48.4% men population aged 15 and over uses tobacco while 13.7% was recorded for women.
The National Family Health Survey 2019-21 (NFHS-5), provides information on population, health, and nutrition for India, each state/union territory (UT), and for 707 districts as on March 31st 2017. The NFHS-1 was conducted in 1992-93, NFHS-2 in 1998-99 in all 26 states of India; NFHS-3 was carried out in 2005-2006, NFHS-4 in 2014-2015.
TOBACCO USE AMONG YOUTH
According to a survey conducted by International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) under the Union ministry of Health & Family welfare (MoHFW) in 36 States and Union Territories, 42.6% children in Nagaland in the 13-15 years category were found to be consuming tobacco as against the national average of 8.5 percent.
As per this survey, Nagaland registered the second highest in the country at 42.6% after Arunachal Pradesh (57.9%)
TOBACCO USE AMONG ADULTS
According to an earlier survey conducted in the year 2016-17 by Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS), Nagaland ranked seventh in the country in tobacco usage with 43.3 pc of the state’s population using tobacco.
The survey said 25.0% of men, 0.5% of women and 13.2% of all adults currently smoke tobacco while 46.0% of men, 31.5% of women and 39.0% of all adults currently use smokeless tobacco. It was also found that 54.1% of men, 31.7% of women and 43.3% of all adults either smoke tobacco and/or use smokeless tobacco.