OBJECTIVES:  Objective of this study was to provide a baseline against which to monitor trends in breast cancer awareness and the effect of interventions to promote breast cancer awareness. METHODS: A cross sectional house hold survey was conducted on 365 young women between the age group of 18-40 in urban and rural areas of South India using a validated questionnaire. RESULTS: A total of 99% respondents knew that breast cancer is the leading cancer with a mean knowledge of 73.7±15.1% for urban and 47.2±13.9% for rural women. Sources of information for their knowledge were mainly health professionals/workers (98.2%), friends/neighbors (83.5%), TV/Radio (76.0%) and printed materials (60.2%). Rural women had significantly less awareness compared to urban women. Majority of the respondents knew the risk factors of breast cancer aging (69%), nulliparity (56.4%), delivery at more than 30 years old (46%), shorter duration of breast feeding (72.0%), contraceptive pills (46.0%), obesity (80.0%), big breast (81%), hormone replacement therapy (HRT) (54.4%), menopause after the age of 50 (20%) and menarche before age 11(34.8%). most of the respondents agreed that the following are risk factors  smoking (85.2%), alcohol intake (86.8%) and exposure to radiation (67.2%).the rural respondents strongly believed that breast cancer with wearing of underwire bra (34.3%) but most of the urban respondents not believed (65.6%).Regarding awareness of the screening methods, 66% and 49% were aware about BSE and CBE respectively, 78% were aware about mammography. CONCLUSIONS:  The study showed awareness of breast cancer and practice of screening procedures increases with higher education and urban living. Therefore, there is an urgent need to conduct breast cancer awareness camps in rural areas for an intensive breast cancer awareness campaign and availability of screening centers prioritized in rural areas.