China Is Hopelessly Tied at the Hip to Cigarettes, as Tobacco Sales Continue to Increase

Smoking rates in technologically developed countries have fallen sharply since the mid-1960s, when U.S. adult cigarette use exceeded 42%. Today, fewer than 10% of U.S. adults smoke, with young adults at about 3.4%. Declines are linked to health messaging, education, taxation, and stigmatization. China presents a different situation because the state is deeply tied to tobacco revenue. A state monopoly controlling the tobacco industry and its main cigarette maker, the China National Tobacco Corporation, generated about $244 billion in profit and tax revenue in 2025. This amount equals roughly 7% of total national government revenue and is comparable to China’s national defense spending, indicating tobacco funds major government priorities.

"Smoking was once completely socially normalized as recently as the mid-1960s, when federal tracking of smoking rates in the U.S. began. At that time, more than 42% of all U.S. adults were active cigarette smokers. Today, the number in the U.S. is less than 10% and still in sharp decline, with the remainder mostly being older citizens who have been smoking for decades—merely 3.4% of young U.S. adults ages 18-24 are now cigarette users."

"Still, it's not hard to imagine that the United States and some of its closest global allies are moving steadily toward a tobacco-free future, thanks to decades of effective health messaging, education, taxation and stigmatization. But China, on the other hand? China is what happens when a global superpower becomes so tied at the hip to the revenue created by smoking that the true addiction is to the way a drug like tobacco props up the federal bottom line."

"The state monopoly that controls the entire tobacco industry and its primary cigarette maker, the China National Tobacco Corporation, generated approximately $244 billion in profit and tax revenue in 2025. That's not gross revenue; it's profit and tax revenue flowing straight to the federal coffers. This figure is equal to a shocking 7% of the total national government revenue, and is nearly equal to the stated figure of what China says it spends on its entire national defense budget."

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