Differences in monthly per capita expenditure between urban and rural India are as high as 63 per cent, according to 'Household Consumer Expenditure Among Socio-Economic Groups: 2004-2005' released by the ministry of statistics last week.

Prices in urban areas though are on an average 34 per cent higher compared to rural areas. Once these price differences are accounted for, the difference narrows down to 21 per cent and Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Haryana and Kerala emerge as states where rural expenditures are higher than urban expenditures. The difference is the highest in Arunachal Pradesh where rural expenditures outstrip urban expenditures by 15 per cent, followed by Manipur (12 per cent), Kerala (5.5 per cent) and Haryana (1.9 per cent). In all other states urban expenditures are higher than rural expenditures, with Chhattisgarh faring the worst at 73 per cent followed by Jharkhand at 72 per cent.