Current tobacco use among adults in Africa

44 countries in Africa, 2024. Unit: % of adults. World ranking →

First in the ranking
3.1 %
Nigeria
Median country
10.3 %
half above, half below
World
20.3 %
World Bank aggregate
Range
3.1 to 28.0
Nigeria - Lesotho

How to read it

Across 44 countries in Africa, the highest value is in Lesotho (28.0 %) and the lowest in Nigeria (3.1 %).

The median country is at 10.3 %: half are above, half below.

The percentage of the population ages 15 years and over who currently use any tobacco product (smoked and/or smokeless tobacco) on a daily or non-daily basis. Tobacco products include cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, waterpipes (hookah, shisha), bidis, kretek, heated tobacco products, and all forms of smokeless (oral and nasal) tobacco. Tobacco products exclude e-cigarettes (which do not contain tobacco)…

Compare selected countries · on the world map

Source: Global Health Observatory Data Repository, World Health Organization (WHO), uri: https://www.who.int/data/gho · via World Bank WDI (SH.PRV.SMOK) · licence

Tobacco use over time

%

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Ranking of countries

2024
In chart Share of the highest value
1Nigeria3.1
2Ghana3.3
3Ethiopia5.2
4Liberia5.2
5Senegal5.4
6Cameroon5.7
7Togo5.8
8Côte d'Ivoire7.3
9Benin7.4
10Mali7.4
11Niger7.4
12Chad7.4
13Uganda7.5
14Tanzania7.7
15Guinea-Bissau8.2
16São Tomé and Principe8.3
17Comoros8.9
18Malawi8.9
19Kenya9.6
20Mauritania9.9
21Burundi10.1
22Rwanda10.1
23Cabo Verde10.4
24Mozambique10.5
25Zimbabwe11.0
26The Gambia11.1
27Sierra Leone11.3
28Eswatini11.5
29Burkina Faso11.6
30Democratic Republic of the Congo12.3
31Morocco12.5
32Gabon13.3
33Zambia14.3
34Republic of the Congo16.2
35Seychelles17.3
36Mauritius17.7
37Botswana18.0
38Algeria22.4
39South Africa23.7
40Libya24.2
41Tunisia24.4
42Egypt25.0
43Madagascar25.6
44Lesotho28.0
World Bank, WDI · SH.PRV.SMOK · 2024 · CC BY 4.0 Source and licence

Tick a country in the table to add it to the chart above, up to six at a time. The ranking uses the latest year for which at least half of the countries have a value; countries without a value that year are not listed.