Countries by Prevalence of current tobacco use, males (% of male adults)

Ranking 2022

Values shown in %.

Analysis

This metric measures the percentage of the male population ages 15 years and over who currently use any tobacco product (smoked and/or smokeless tobacco) on a daily or non-daily basis. Tobacco products include cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, waterpipes (hookah, shisha), bidis, kretek, heated tobacco products, and all forms of smokeless (oral and nasal) tobacco. Tobacco products exclude e-cigarettes (which do not contain tobacco). Data are drawn from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.PRV.SMOK.MA, for the reference year 2022. The dataset covers 164 countries, all with data from the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints are classified as official-quality estimates. Six extreme outliers were identified at the 3-sigma threshold, and the full range spans 6.1% to 73.1%, a spread of over 1,098%.

The top of the ranking is dominated by Southeast Asian, Pacific Island, and Eastern European countries. Indonesia ranks 1st at 73.1%, followed by Myanmar at 69.5% (rank 2) and Timor-Leste at 67.0% (rank 3). Jordan ranks 4th at 57.6% and Georgia 5th at 55.9%. Pacific Island nations appear prominently in the upper tier: Solomon Islands ranks 6th at 54.4%, Papua New Guinea 7th at 54.3%, Kiribati 8th at 52.5%, and Marshall Islands 12th at 51.2%. Former Soviet states also cluster near the top, with Moldova at 52.4% (rank 9), Kyrgyz Republic at 51.3% (rank 11), and Belarus at 46.3% (rank 21). Bangladesh ranks 13th at 50.5% and China ranks 24th at 45.1%.

The middle of the ranking includes many Western European countries and a broad mix of Latin American, Middle Eastern, and sub-Saharan African nations. France ranks 56th at 35.5%, Greece 57th at 35.0%, and the United States ranks 74th at 29.9%. A notable anomaly is Denmark, which ranks 129th at just 16.4%, well below many of its European peers such as Latvia (rank 20, 46.6%) and Lithuania (rank 35, 41.1%). Iceland ranks even lower at 160th with 9.3%. In West Africa, Ghana ranks 163rd at 6.5% and Nigeria 164th at 6.1%, both substantially below regional neighbors like Senegal (rank 151, 12.3%) and Cameroon (rank 155, 11.7%). Saudi Arabia ranks 85th at 27.6%, while the United Arab Emirates ranks 136th at 15.4%, despite sharing a regional context.

Several limitations apply to this metric. The indicator combines smoked and smokeless tobacco into a single prevalence figure, which means countries with high smokeless tobacco use, such as Bangladesh or India, are not directly comparable to those where smoking predominates. Self-reported survey data can understate true prevalence due to social desirability bias, particularly in contexts where tobacco use carries stigma. Differences in survey methodology, sampling frames, and reference periods across countries can introduce inconsistencies. The exclusion of e-cigarettes, which do not contain tobacco, means the metric does not capture the full landscape of nicotine use. Finally, because all 164 country values are drawn from the single reference year 2022, the data may not reflect recent trend reversals in specific countries.

Methodology

Data are sourced from the World Bank World Development Indicators, indicator code SH.PRV.SMOK.MA, with a reference year of 2022. The metric is defined as: the percentage of the male population ages 15 years and over who currently use any tobacco product (smoked and/or smokeless tobacco) on a daily or non-daily basis. Tobacco products include cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, waterpipes (hookah, shisha), bidis, kretek, heated tobacco products, and all forms of smokeless (oral and nasal) tobacco. Tobacco products exclude e-cigarettes (which do not contain tobacco). The dataset covers 164 countries, exceeding the minimum coverage threshold of 80. All 164 countries (100%) have data from within the last seven years, and 100% of datapoints meet the official-quality classification threshold. Six extreme outliers were flagged at the 3-sigma threshold. The average year-over-year change across the dataset is 5.9%, well within the 50% volatility threshold. Values range from 6.1% (Nigeria) to 73.1% (Indonesia), representing a spread of approximately 1,098%. No microstates under one million population are included in the 164-country set.

Sources

• World Bank