Countries with the highest number of smokers worldwide as of 2019

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the two countries with the largest populations in the world also have the highest total number of smokers. However, in 2019, China had more than double the number of smokers as India even though just four years later India would overtake China to become the most populous country in the world. In 2019, a total of around 341.3 million people in China smoked compared to 130.7 million in India.

Which country smokes the most?

Although China and India have the highest number of total smokers, they are not the countries with the highest rates of smoking. The countries with the highest share of their population who are smokers are the Pacific Island nations of Kiribati and Nauru, followed by Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. As of 2019, around 37 percent of the populations of Kiribati and Nauru were smokers. The countries with the lowest rates of smoking are Panama and Ghana where only around two percent of people smoke tobacco. Rates of smoking are generally higher among men than women, but the difference varies greatly from country to country.

Deaths due to smoking

Smoking tobacco increases the risk of a number of diseases including heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and many forms of cancer. In 2019, it was estimated that around two million deaths worldwide due to ischemic heart disease could be attributed to smoking, as well as a further 1.4 million deaths from tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer. Men account for the vast majority of deaths attributable to tobacco with the regions of the Western Pacific and South-East Asia reporting the highest number of such deaths. It is estimated that in China up to 35 percent of deaths among men can be attributed to tobacco use.