Overview: This database contains tobacco consumption data from 1970-2015 collected through a systematic search coupled with consultation with country and subject-matter experts. Data quality appraisal was conducted by at least two research team members in duplicate, with greater weight given to official government sources. All data was standardized into units of cigarettes consumed and a detailed accounting of data quality and sourcing was prepared. Data was found for 71 of 214 countries for which searches for national cigarette consumption data were conducted, representing over 95% of global cigarette consumption and 85% of the world’s population.
Cigarette consumption fell in most countries over the past three decades but trends in country specific consumption were highly variable. For example, China consumed 2.5 million metric tonnes (MMT) of cigarettes in 2013, more than Russia (0.36 MMT), the United States (0.28 MMT), Indonesia (0.28 MMT), Japan (0.20 MMT), and the next 35 highest consuming countries combined. The US and Japan achieved reductions of more than 0.1 MMT from a decade earlier, whereas Russian consumption plateaued, and Chinese and Indonesian consumption increased by 0.75 MMT and 0.1 MMT, respectively. These data generally concord with modelled country level data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation and have the additional advantage of not smoothing year-over-year discontinuities that are necessary for robust quasi-experimental impact evaluations.
Before this study, publicly available data on cigarette consumption have been limited—either inappropriate for quasi-experimental impact evaluations (modelled data), held privately by companies (proprietary data), or widely dispersed across many national statistical agencies and research organisations (disaggregated data). This new dataset confirms that cigarette consumption has decreased in most countries over the past three decades, but that secular country specific consumption trends are highly variable. The findings underscore the need for more robust processes in data reporting, ideally built into international legal instruments or other mandated processes. To monitor the impact of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and other tobacco control interventions, data on national tobacco production, trade, and sales should be routinely collected and openly reported.
Further details are available in the accompanying article: Hoffman, S. J., Mammone, J., Katwyk, S. R. V., Sritharan, L., Tran, M., Grjibovski, A., Gunn, E., Kamali-Anaraki, S., Li, B., Mahendren, M., Mansoor, Y., Natt, N., Nwokoro, E., Randhawa, H., Yunju Song, M., Vercammen, K., Wang, C., Woo, J., Poirier, M.J.P. Cigarette consumption estimates for 71 countries from 1970 to 2015: systematic collection of comparable data to facilitate quasi-experimental evaluations of national and global tobacco control interventions. BMJ. 2019; 365: l2231.
Disclaimer: Any commercial use of this dataset or use by tobacco industry affiliated individuals or organizations without having signed a data transfer agreement is strictly forbidden. Use of the data is free and open for all academic and advocacy purposes and is covered under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License. Use by tobacco industry affiliated individuals and organizations is NOT covered under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Public License. This includes any individual or organization that has received direct or indirect funding from any tobacco company or agent acting in service of a tobacco company, holds shares in a tobacco company, or owns intellectual property related to tobacco products. Commercial users must agree to a separate data transfer agreement and pay the transfer fee.
We have compiled and evaluated the quality of data to the best of our abilities and are not responsible for the data gathering processes of any statistical agency or other data source cited in this dataset. Researchers should evaluate the quality of data for each country to determine whether the data precision allows for the methods being used.
Notes: All proprietary data have been removed from the ICCD and are marked as "Contact". If you have access to ERC/GlobalData as an individual or institution please contact the authors and we will provide the full dataset.
Suggested Citation: Poirier, Mathieu JP; Guindon, G Emmanuel; Sritharan, Lathika; Hoffman, Steven J, 2019, "International Cigarette Consumption Database v1.0", https://doi.org/10.5683/SP2/AOVUW7, Scholars Portal Dataverse, version 1.0, UNF:6:fRF3NMWpt9YJqJupSfe3Bw== [fileUNF]
