Page 1 Introduction If we look at the world scenario, around half (43%, or 2.3 billion) of the world’s population aged 15 years and over have consumed alcohol in the previous 12 months in 2016 (WHO, 2018). Although per capita consumption of alcohol is highest among adult in high-income countries, it is nearly as high in the upper-middle-income countries (Easwaran et al., 2015). As per the WHO report, per capita consumption of alcohol was 6.2 litres in 2010 aged 15 years or older worldwide (WHO, 2014). Harmful use of alcohol result in 3 million people die each year, which means 5.3% of all deaths worldwide (WHO, 2018). This report also revealed that alcohol has a contribution on the global burden of disease and injury which accounts approximately 5.1 per cent of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and approximately 13.5 per cent of the total deaths in the age group 20-39 years were caused by alcohol consumption. About 60 per cent of all injuries to the emergency ward was due to alcohol use as shown by a hospital-based study (Benegal et al., 2002), and another study showed that 18 per cent of all brain injuries reporting to emergency ward were caused by alcohol usage (Gururaj et al., 2005). Looking at the Indian scenario, a countrywide survey showed that the prevalence of alcohol consumption was 21 per cent among men and 2 per cent of women in India (Ray, 2004). A study also found that alcohol consumption is not uniform but varies from 7% in Gujarat to 75% in Arunachal Pradesh (Bhullar et al., 2013). American Research Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences ISSN (Online) : 2378-7031 Volume 4, 2018, 15 pages Research Article Open Access www.arjonline.org Alcohol Consumption in India: An Analysis of IHDS Data Nasim Ahamed Mondal 1 *, Mithun Mog 2 , Kacho Amir Khan 3 * 1 Project Officer, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. 2 Senior Research Officer, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. 3 Doctoral Fellow, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. *nasimamu32@gmail.com Abstract Introduction: Harmful use of alcohol result in 3 million people die each year, which means 5.3% of all deaths worldwide. Alcohol has a contribution on the global burden of disease and injury which accounts approximately 5.1 per cent of the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs), and approximately 13.5 per cent of the total deaths in the age group 20-39 years were caused by alcohol consumption. Objectives: To understand the changes and diferentials in alcohol consumption in India and its states, and to examine the determinants of alcohol consumption in India. Data Source and Methodology: The present study has used the national representative Indian Human Development Surveys (IHDS) I (2004-05) and II (2011-12). Bivariate analysis was used to show the prevalence of alcohol consumption concerning some selected socioeconomic and demographic background variables. The Chi-square and multivariate logistic regressions were also employed to estimate the odds ratio (95% CI) for alcohol consumption. STATA and Arc GIS 10.1 software were employed to carry out the analyses. Findings: The alcohol consumption was two per cent higher in 2004-05 (37%) than the recent survey of IHDS (2011-12) (35%) in India. In addition to that, there were some states where the consumption of alcohol had increased from 2004 to 2012 like Mizoram (44%), Kerala (19%), and Jammu and Kashmir (16%). In contrary to that, there were also a few states where alcohol consumption had decreased from 2004 to 2012 like Rajasthan (8%) and Tamil Nadu (5%). Keywords: Alcohol, prevalence, determinants of drinking, India