How many Olympic size swimming pools can all the Paan saliva fill each year from each Indian state?

Betel leaf as it is commonly known as Paan is used as an Indian cultural practice to chew betel nut along with betel leaves, slaked lime paste, areca nuts, and spices.

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It has been found that almost 70% of the total population in India uses Paan and its various forms but what most people don’t know is how much Paan saliva (spit) one Indian produces each year.

What is paan?

The betel leaf is typically chewed along with areca nut and slaked lime paste, although dried ginger or a variety of spices may be added. Depending on what ingredients are added to it, there are over 100 different types of paan.

The process of chewing a mixture of betel leaf, areca nut, and lime is called paan in India. It has been mentioned in Sanskrit texts dated around 1000 AD.

What are some facts about paan?

There are a lot of interesting facts that have been collected about paan. The first time it was consumed was in ancient Egypt. It became popular in India in 1840.

It has become an integral part of Indian culture and tradition, especially among people who live in South Asia. When visiting India, it is almost impossible to not notice paan spit as it is sometimes left on sidewalks and other public areas.

How much paan spit can be produced in India annually?

Chewing tobacco (paan) is a big business in India. It’s said that 5 billion paans are consumed annually, creating a massive amount of paan spit.

A quick Google search and it becomes evident there is no consensus on how much paan spit is produced. Going by averages and statistics, we believe that roughly 22 million kg of paan saliva could be produced annually in India – enough to fill about 3,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools! And that’s just for one day!

Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha can together fill about 105 Olympic size swimming pools with Paan spit every year.

Despite being very small states, Nagaland, Manipur, and Mizoram beat larger states like Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka in filling pools with Paan spit.

Tamil Nadu can fill more pools with paan spit than Uttarakhand, Haryana, Punjab, Himachal, Jammu, and Kashmir put together.

Metrics used:

Olympic-size swimming pool volume: 2.5 million liters

Average spit of a person who takes tobacco with betel: 39.55 gm per intake

Density of Paan spit: 1.1gm/ml (assumed)

Note: this only accounts for Paan – there are other interesting spit variants that can be produced using good old gutkha and khaini that unfortunately haven’t been visualized here.

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