The percentage increase in the consumption of rice over the previous year was…

Concept: A year-on-year percentage increase is always measured against the previous year as the base: percentage change = (current value − previous value) ÷ previous value × 100. Because that base changes from year to year, the largest absolute rise need not be the largest percentage rise. The quantity being tracked here is consumption, which the table's note defines as Production − Exports.

Application

1. The table's note fixes the quantity to be tracked: consumption (in million kg) = Production − Exports.

2. Compute that consumption for every year: 2012 → 186.5 − 114 = 72.5, 2013 → 202 − 114 = 88, 2014 → 238 − 130 = 108, 2015 → 221 − 116 = 105 and 2016 → 215 − 88 = 127, all in million kg.

3. Apply percentage change = (current − previous) ÷ previous × 100 to each consecutive pair, always keeping the earlier year as the base.

4. For 2013: (88 − 72.5) ÷ 72.5 × 100 = 15.5 ÷ 72.5 × 100 ≈ 21.4%.

5. For 2014: (108 − 88) ÷ 88 × 100 = 20 ÷ 88 × 100 ≈ 22.7%.

6. For 2015: (105 − 108) ÷ 108 × 100 = −3 ÷ 108 × 100 ≈ −2.8%, a decrease rather than an increase.

7. For 2016: (127 − 105) ÷ 105 × 100 = 22 ÷ 105 × 100 ≈ 21.0%.

8. Rank the four figures: 22.7% > 21.4% > 21.0% > −2.8%, so the sharpest percentage rise in consumption over the previous year belongs to 2014.

Cross-check: 2016 records the largest absolute rise in consumption — 22 million kg against 20 million kg for 2014 — yet it is measured on a base of 105 million kg instead of 88 million kg, so its percentage rise comes out smaller. That is exactly the base effect stated in the concept, and it is the real check on this calculation. The per-capita column cannot stand in for it: per-capita consumption = consumption ÷ population, so once population changes the two quantities need not move together. 2013 shows this plainly — total consumption rises by about 21.4% there while per-capita consumption falls from 36.25 to 35.2. In this particular dataset the per-capita figures do happen to peak in the same year (about 9.9%, against about 4.7% and about 3.7%), but that is a coincidence of the given numbers, not a substitute for the calculation above.

Hence the percentage increase in the consumption of rice over the previous year was the highest in 2014.