Approximately 1 billion people around the world smoke tobacco-based cigarettes.

That's a rough estimate, but probably relatively close to the actual number.

And it's a high number, but not as high as it could have been.

In most developed nations where people are spendiest with the most expendable cash

to throw around on non-essentials, smoking is decreasing in popularity. So while a billion people

was about 14.3% of the total human population in 2014, when a major study on the subject was done,

it's only about 12.5% of the total population on the planet today. So there's a similar number of people smoking,

but that number represents less of the overall human population. That number would be even smaller

if it wasn't for increases in rates of cigarette smoking in highly populous and increasingly wealthy countries,

like China, which, based on a study using 2016 numbers, consumes nearly 42% of all

pre-made and self-rolled cigarettes that are smoked each year, which adds up to just over

2,000 cigarettes per person per year. That is 2 trillion, 350,000, 500 million cigarettes each year, smoked by the 300 to 400 million people who are active smokers in China.

That number is a little fluffy because the last available data indicated there were around 300 million smokers in China, but that was a half decade ago.

And other research that's been done indicates that the number of smokers is growing fairly quickly that was a half decade ago. And other research that's been done

indicates that the number of smokers is growing fairly quickly, while existing smokers are

less likely to quit in China than in most other countries. So even 400 million may be a conservative

estimate. But either way, it's a massive demographic of people who are consuming an incredible portion,

42% of the world's tobacco output on an annual basis.

Part of the reason for this tobacco enthusiasm in China, it's purported,

is that the Chinese government's tobacco product monopoly,

is that the Chinese government's tobacco industry monopoly within the country

brings in 7 to 9% of the government's revenue each year. So just like lotteries and other

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