Tobacco Production by Country 2024

What this chart shows. The 25 countries that grew the most tobacco in 2024, in thousands of tonnes. China led with 2,256.4 thousand tonnes, followed by India with 727.2 thousand and Brazil with 637.7 thousand. The world total was 6.0 million tonnes.

How the data is collected. The figures come from FAOSTAT, the statistics database of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, which collects national production data through annual questionnaires and fills gaps with its own estimates. The item is unmanufactured tobacco, the leaf before it is made into cigarettes or other products. India's figure is imputed by FAO rather than reported by India.

Background. China alone grew 37.3 per cent of the world's tobacco. World production was 16.1 per cent lower than in 2014. The United States, fourth in 2014, fell to seventh after a 24.1 per cent drop from 2023.

Limits. 10 of the 25 figures are FAO estimates or imputations rather than official national data, including those for North Korea, Malawi and Thailand. Countries outside the top 25 grew the remaining 6.5 per cent.