10 Countries that Have the Most Smokers in the World

Published on May 25, 2017 at 6:15 am by Vuk Zdinjak in Lists

If you are looking for countries that have a significant part of their populations living an unhealthy lifestyle, our list of 10 countries that have the most smokers in the world could be just what you are looking for.

If you tried smoking and found cigarettes to be disgusting, it is possible that you were lucky and didn’t try all the cigarettes from our list of 5 Best Tasting Cigarettes for New Smokers.

Talking about smoking, it is hard not to also talk about lung cancer – considering that smoking increases the chance of developing lung cancer 23 times in men, and 13 times in women. Close to 90% of lung cancer cases are estimated to be the result of smoking, so we could expect that countries on our list will have higher lung cancer death rates. However, that assumption turned to be incorrect as 7 countries on our list would not get even in to the top 20, let alone top 10 of the countries with the highest lung cancer death rates. Two of the countries from our list do not have cause of death in their statistics, so lung cancer death rates are not available.

10 Countries that Have the Most Smokers in the World

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Smoking is not only detrimental to the health of the smokers, and passive smokers, but is also damaging to the environment. Tobacco crops deplete the soil of nutrients, and at the same time poison it with pesticides, growth regulators, and fertilizers, which are necessary for tobacco growing. Every year, new areas of woodland are cleared for new tobacco crops, and deforestation is obviously a “great contribution” of the tobacco industry and smokers to the climate change. Should we even mention that most cigarette filters are not biodegradable, and are toxic to aquatic life? And as if all of the above is not enough, add fires caused by cigarette smoking to the list.

For making our list of 10 countries that have the most smokers in the world, we are using data from the World Health Organization. We will be ranking countries by percentage of a population that consists of smokers older than 15 years. If we were making a list by using cigarette consumption per capita, even that methodology would not give us much better correlation with lung cancer death rates. Lung cancer death rates are taken from the WorldLifeExpectancy, and consumption of cigarettes per person per year is from TobaccoAtlas.

10. Chile

38% of smokers

With 40% of men, and 36% of women in Chile estimated to be smokers, lung cancer death rate for Chile of 13.55 per capita seems to be relatively low. Consumption of cigarettes per person per year is 929.55.

9. Bosnia and Herzegovina

38.3% of smokers

More men smoke in Bosnia and Herzegovina(B&H) than in Chile – 47.2% of them, and fewer women – 30%. While B&H has just 0.3% more smokers than Chile, it does have greater consumption of cigarettes per person per year of 2233.46, and significantly higher lung cancer death rate of 29.5 per capita – 25^th worst in the world.

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8. Lebanon

38.3% of smokers

With same total percent of smokers as B&H, Lebanon that ranks 8th on our list of countries that have the most smokers in the world just slightly differs with 45.4% of men, and 31% of women being smokers. Even though Lebanon cigarettes consumption per person per year is significantly higher – being 3023.15, lung cancer death rate is relatively low – at 15.85 per 100,000 people.

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7. Russia

39.1% of smokers

It seems that Russians aren’t just heavy drinkers, with 59% of men, and 22.8% of women being smokers they rank 7^th on our list of countries that have the most smokers in the world. They have lung cancer death rate of 28.91 per capita, and cigarettes consumption per person per year of 2690.33

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6. Indonesia

39.8% of smokers

In Indonesia, the number 6 on our list of countries that have the most smokers in the world we observe an extreme difference in sexes – 76.2% of men, and just 3.6% of women smoke. Lung cancer rate per 100,000 people is 17.16, and cigarettes consumption per person per year is 1322.3.

5. Jordan

41% of smokers

With 70% of men, and 10.7% of women being smokers, Jordan follows the same cultural trend as in Indonesia, of most men being smokers, while very few women having the same privilege. Lung cancer death rate is 14.88 per capita, and cigarettes consumption per person per year is 1855.05.

4. Serbia

41.6% of smokers

In Serbia 43.6% of men, and 39.7% of women smoke. Cigarettes consumption per person per year is 1643.67. Lung cancer death rate per 100,000 people is 45.8 – 4^th worst in the world.

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3. Greece

42.4 percent of smokers

In Greece, the next one on the list of countries that have the most smokers in the world 52.6% of men, and 32.7% of women smoke. Cigarettes consumption per person per year is 2086.09, and lung cancer death rate is 29.71 per capita – 24^th worst.

2. Nauru

47.5% of smokers

Nauru is an exception to the rule that men smoke more than women, having 43% of men, and 52% of women as smokers.

1. Kiribati

52.2% of smokers

Kiribati has 63.9% of men, and 40.9% of women as smokers. Cigarettes consumption per person per year is estimated to be 28.03, which is obviously hard to believe, and quite likely incorrect. (of course, it could be that percentage of smokers by WHO is the one incorrect) And so with this country, where every second person smokes, we finish our list of 10 countries that have the most smokers in the world.