Chinese People Smoke 2 Trillion Cigarettes Every Year

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I know that Chinese people like to smoke cigarettes, but just how much they like to smoke is pretty astounding to learn: over 2 trillion sticks of cigarettes a year! That’s more than 1,500 cigs for every man, woman and child there!

China has 300 million smokers (that’s about the entire population of the United States, by the way). It’s been estimated that 60% to 75% of all Chinese men smoke, puffing an average of 15 cigarettes per day.

In 2001, a study published in the British Medical Journal tracked the rising death toll from smoking and extrapolated a particularly chilling statistics:

"Two-thirds of all the young men in China, but, as yet, few of the young women, become smokers. Half the smokers who persist will eventually be killed by their habit," said Oxford University epidemiologist Sir Richard Peto, who led the study.

"On present smoking patterns, about one-third of all the young men in China will eventually be killed by tobacco." (Source)

Yet, tobacco continues to be a booming industry there, growing at a brisk 10% rate year after year.