Globally, about 5.5 trillion cigarettes are produced each year — more than two cigarettes per person per day. China is the largest producer of cigarettes — in 2004, China produced 1.79 trillion cigarettes. The United States, by contrast, produced about 499 billion that year.
It's not a smoke screen:
- About 1.3 billion people worldwide smoke.
- About 15 billion cigarettes are sold daily — that's about 10 million per minute.
- More men than women smoke — worldwide, about 1/3 of the adult male population smokes.
- Tobacco kills about one in 10 adults each year — about 5 million people.
- Someone dies from tobacco use every eight seconds.
- In 2007, the international coastal cleanup by the Ocean Conservancy picked up 1,971,551 cigarette butts, which are the most common debris collected.
