According to the Ministry of statistics, urban households spend 84 percent more than their rural counterparts, depicting the stark inequality of the standard of living between urban and rural India.
In a paper released by Monojit Das, Deputy Director of the National Sample Survey Office, the household monthly per capita consumer expenditure (MPCE) in urban areas is an average of INR 2,630 while it is INR 1,430 in rural areas.
The paper titled, "Household Consumer Expenditure across Religious Groups in India" documents the variation in household expenditures across the different religious group.
It also highlights that Muslim households depict the least difference in terms of the rural-urban divide, with urban households spending 34 percent more than rural.
Hindus recorded the highest difference of 67 percent while the figures stood at 47 percent for Christians.
The paper also documents that Muslim households spend the most on food, among all other religious groups. But surprisingly the expenditure on food and beverages decreases as the income increases, having an inverse relationship.
The Hindu families come second with rural households spending 56 percent on food and urban families spending 43 percent, followed by the Christian households which spend 54 percent and 49 percent on food in the rural and urban areas, respectively.
