Mint Explainer: Consumption expenditure data and socio-economic disparity
₹100 spent by a person from the top 5% class, a person from the bottom 5% class in rural areas spends just ₹13 and even less in urban areas at less than ₹10. The national average MPCE of ₹3,773 and ₹6,459 for rural and urban areas, respectively, was almost equivalent to the expenditure of 60-70% fractile class in 2011-12. This saw only a little change in the latest survey.
Thus, a vast majority of the population spends far less than the national average in rural and urban areas. What might be disturbing for many economists and rights activists is just how much larger is the spending capacity of the top 5% compared to the poorer classes. The average MPCE of the top 5% in rural areas was estimated at ₹10,501 and in urban areas at ₹20,824.
That is almost as much as the combined MPCE of the bottom 40% in rural areas and the bottom 50% in urban areas. That apart, wide disparity is seen in the spending based on the type of household and social groups. The average MPCE of someone employed as casual labour in agriculture in rural areas was estimated at ₹3,273 compared to ₹4,533 for the wage earners/salaried employed in non-agricultural activities.
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