Despite waging a war against tobacco, China’s situation still remains serious. According to the latest data, Chinese citizens smoke 2.4 trillion cigarettes every year. This is almost half of the average 5 trillion cigarette consumption worldwide. This means that almost half of the cigarettes smoked every year in the world are consumed in China alone. That too when there are strict rules regarding cigarettes and smoking in China.
According to Chinese Center for Disease Control China People smoke 2.4 trillion cigarettes every year. Not only this, when there was a 26 percent decline in cigarette consumption across the world from 2003-23, an increase of 39 percent was seen in China.
Jinping had promised to control cigarettes
According to the New York Times, when Xi Jinping became President in 2012, he had promised to control it. Jinping had told a famous industrialist at that time that he also used to smoke a lot, but now he has quit. After quitting cigarettes, I feel very healthy.
After this, Jinping talked about the fight against cigarettes on several occasions. However, it yielded no results. China still remains on top in terms of smoking. According to the report, 23 percent of the total population of China is involved in smoking.
That means 23 out of 100 people in China smoke cigarettes. The total population of China is 140 crores. If we look at the numbers, about 30 crore Chinese smoke cigarettes. China is trying to reduce this figure by 2030.
Many laws have been made in China regarding cigarettes. For example, selling cigarettes to people under 18 years of age is a crime. Apart from this, cigarettes cannot be smoked in public transport and other public places.
To reduce the number of cigarette consumption, Jinping’s government has made a provision of 10 percent tax in the year 2022. Apart from this, strict rules have also been implemented on e-cigarettes (Vaping) in China.
Big question- Why is cigarette consumption not decreasing?
One of the main reasons for this is the cigarette industry in China. China National Tobacco Corporation looks after the production and sale of cigarettes in China. The net profit of this company in 2025 was 244 billion dollars. This is 7 percent of the total income of the Chinese government.
When the Chinese government was facing economic crisis after the outbreak of Corona virus, this company was revived. Apart from this, strict provisions have never been used to reduce tobacco consumption in China.
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