Beijing: More than a decade after President Xi Jinping said China would strengthen controls on tobacco sales, the country still dominates global cigarette consumption, according to data cited in a report.
A New York Times article compiled figures from reports by an NGO run by former Chinese health officials and data from Zheng Rong, a former professor at the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing. The compilation estimates China’s share of international cigarette consumption at 47.2%, even as the number of smokers is declining worldwide.
The data indicates that cigarette consumption in China rose by 39% between 2003 and 2023, while cigarette sales in the rest of the world fell by 26.4% over the same period. China is said to sell about 244 billion cigarettes annually.
Around 90% of those sales are attributed to the state-run China National Tobacco Corporation, which is also estimated to manufacture 40% to 50% of the world’s cigarettes. In 2025, the state tobacco company reportedly delivered about Rs 21 lakh crore in profits and tax revenue to the government—around 7% of total government revenue—prompting criticism that strong anti-tobacco measures have not been pursued due to the sector’s fiscal importance.
