Tobacco remains one of the most consumed legal substances on the planet. There were about 1.2 billion tobacco users aged 15 and older in 2024. While much of the developed world has seen declining numbers, certain countries still drive enormous cigarette sales volumes. The countries with the highest levels of cigarettes per capita consumption in 2024 were the United States (2.7 units per person), Russia (2 units per person), and Japan (1.5 units per person) when measured by finished cigarette sticks. Yet when the broader picture of total sales volumes, cultural context, and raw market data is considered, three nations stand out above all others: China, Indonesia, and Russia. Their stories are very different – but each reveals just how deeply rooted cigarette culture can become.
1. China – The Undisputed Global Leader
Smoking in China is prevalent, as the People’s Republic of China is the world’s largest consumer and producer of tobacco. As of 2022, there are around 300 million Chinese smokers, and 2.4 trillion cigarettes are sold there every year, accounting for 46% of the world total. That share is almost incomprehensible – nearly one in every two cigarettes smoked in the world is lit in China. China’s male population alone accounts for more than 40 percent of global cigarette consumption. The scale of this market is unlike anything seen elsewhere.
On average, each person in China is estimated to consume 1,900 cigarette units in 2024. Despite efforts to reduce smoking rates, China remains the largest consumer of cigarettes in the world, with a thriving domestic market dominated by state-owned tobacco companies. The China National Tobacco Corporation is by sales the largest single manufacturer of tobacco products in the world and boasts a monopoly in mainland China, generating nearly $213 billion in revenue in 2022. Culturally, cigarettes hold a social function that goes beyond habit. Within the Chinese guanxi system, tobacco is still a ubiquitous gift acceptable on any occasion, particularly outside urban areas. Tobacco control exists as smoking bans, but public enforcement is rare outside the largest cities, such as Shanghai and Beijing. Outside the largest cities, smoking is considered socially acceptable anywhere at any time, even if it is technically illegal.
2. Indonesia – A Nation Built on Kretek
Indonesia is the second largest cigarette market in the world by retail volume. There are approximately 61.4 million smokers in Indonesia, among a population of 273 million people. Around 63% of men and 5% of women report smoking, equating to 34% of the population. What makes Indonesia unique is not just the scale of smoking, but the type of product preferred. The majority – 88% of Indonesian smokers – use clove-flavored kreteks. These locally produced cigarettes are deeply embedded in the country’s national identity and economy.
The volume of white and kretek cigarettes combined was 301 billion sticks, or 52.7 packs per capita in 2022. Per capita consumption of cigarettes was higher in Indonesia than at the global and regional levels in 2023. Indonesia is the world’s second largest market by volume, and cigarette sales are expected to increase in the medium term due to factors such as a lax regulatory environment and cheap prices. Despite the Indonesian government’s increase in excise duties on cigarettes and tobacco products, smoking among adults remains high, particularly among men. Cultural norms, low prices, and aggressive tobacco marketing significantly challenge efforts to reduce smoking rates. In Indonesia, smoking is deeply embedded in social practices and often begins at a young age.
3. Russia – Declining But Still Among the World’s Heaviest Consumers
The countries with the highest volumes of consumption in 2024 were China (1,681 billion units), the United States (919 billion units), and Russia (284 billion units), with a combined 41% of global totals. Russia’s position in this list is the result of decades of deeply entrenched smoking culture. Today, 1 in 3 Russians (33%) smokes, a proportion that has remained virtually unchanged after a slight decrease in 2017. In the Russian Federation, 32.2 million adults are tobacco product users. Historically, smoking has been woven into Russian social life since the imperial era, and remains particularly common among men.
The state marking system “Honest Sign” reported an increase in Russian spending on cigarettes to ₽1.4 trillion in 2024, which is 18.9% higher than in 2023. The data was published in early February 2025. There were approximately 192,878,000,000 cigarettes produced in the Russian Federation in 2024. While per-capita smoking in Russia fell 20% between 2000 and 2020 according to the World Health Organization, the country has seen fresh increases in spending driven partly by stress factors linked to the ongoing conflict. Russian smoking rates have fallen significantly in part due to aggressive tobacco control reforms implemented by the Putin administration in the early 2010s, yet the volumes consumed per capita still place Russia firmly in the top tier globally.
