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Indicator

Smoking Prevalence by African country

2024

Share of adults who currently smoke any tobacco product (age-standardised).

Africa, 202444 of 54 countries
10.9%population-weighted average
Highest in 2024Lesotho · 28.0%Lowest in 2024Nigeria · 3.1%Reported in 202444 of 54 countries surveyed
Click a country to pin it — pinned countries are named on the map. Hatching means no record.
Western Sahara — no separate recordTanzania — 7.7%Democratic Republic of the Congo — 12.3%Somalia — no dataKenya — 9.6%Sudan — no dataChad — 7.4%South Africa — 23.7%Lesotho — 28.0%Zimbabwe — 11.0%Botswana — 18.0%Namibia — no dataSenegal — 5.4%Mali — 7.4%Mauritania — 9.9%Benin — 7.4%Niger — 7.4%Nigeria — 3.1%Cameroon — 5.7%Togo — 5.8%Ghana — 3.3%Cote d'Ivoire — 7.3%Guinea — no dataGuinea-Bissau — 8.2%Liberia — 5.2%Sierra Leone — 11.3%Burkina Faso — 11.6%Central African Republic — no dataRepublic of the Congo — 16.2%Gabon — 13.3%Equatorial Guinea — no dataZambia — 14.3%Malawi — 8.9%Mozambique — 10.5%Eswatini — 11.5%Angola — no dataBurundi — 10.1%Madagascar — 25.6%Gambia — 11.1%Tunisia — 24.4%Algeria — 22.4%Eritrea — no dataMorocco — 12.5%Egypt — 25.0%Libya — 24.2%Ethiopia — 5.2%Djibouti — no dataUganda — 7.5%Rwanda — 10.1%South Sudan — no dataNigeria 3.1%Nigeria 3.1%Ethiopia 5.2%Ethiopia 5.2%Kenya 9.6%Kenya 9.6%South Africa 23.7%South Africa 23.7%2024HIGHEST IN 2024Lesotho28.0%Madagascar25.6%Egypt25.0%Tunisia24.4%Libya24.2%LOWEST IN 2024Nigeria3.1%Ghana3.3%Liberia5.2%Ethiopia5.2%Senegal5.4%PINNEDKenya9.6%26 of 44South Africa23.7%6 of 44OTHER ISLAND STATES · NOT DRAWNCabo Verdenot drawn10.4%Comorosnot drawn8.9%Mauritiusnot drawn17.7%Sao Tome and Principenot drawn8.3%Seychellesnot drawn17.3%% of adults · quintiles of the observed range3.1%7.4%8.9%11.1%17.3%28%no record
20142024
World Bank · national statistics offices · the provider's own estimates where a country has not reportedCC BY 4.0
Countries

By region

Population-weighted, so a region’s figure is the share of its people, not the average of its countries.
Southern Africa4 of 5 countries23.4%
Northern Africa5 of 6 countries22.2%
Middle Africa6 of 9 countries10.7%
Eastern Africa14 of 18 countries9.3%
Western Africa15 of 16 countries5.0%
Africaall 54 countries · 44 with a 2024 figure10.9%

What to know before you quote this

Specific to this series. For how we treat data generally, see methods.
Ten countries have no usable 2024 recordNot a low value — no figure within the window. Angola, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea and 5 more are hatched on the map and blank in the table.
Certainty is judged year by yearA country can be Reported in one year and Modelled the next. The tag follows the year on the scrubber, so the 2024 assessment is not a verdict on the whole series.

About this data

Smoking PrevalenceShare of adults who currently smoke any tobacco product (age-standardised).
SourceWorld Bank, with processing by Africa API
Unit% of adults
Last updated15 Oct 2026
Next expected updateOct 2027
Date range2000–2024
Coverage44 of 54 countries · 44 reported, 0 modelled, 10 with no usable figure

How the figure is made

ReportedA national statistics office or the original provider published the figure for that year directly. 44 countries did so for 2024 — the certainty shown on this page is that 2024 assessment, not a per-series one.ModelledNo direct figure that year. The provider’s own estimate, interpolation or projection stands in, and is marked as such wherever it appears.No dataNo usable figure within the window. Drawn hatched on the map and left blank in the table — not zero, and not filled in.

These three states are used the same way across every indicator on the site — how we treat certainty explains the full set and what we never do to a number.

Reuse and cite

Everything on this page is open under CC BY 4.0 — use it anywhere, including commercially, as long as Africa API and the original provider are credited. The provider’s own licence still applies to their data.

How to cite this page
Africa API (2026) — "Smoking Prevalence". Data adapted from World Bank. Retrieved 18 Oct 2026 from africa-api.com/indicators/smoking
The request behind this view
GET /v1/data?metric_key=smoking_prevalence_pct&year=2024&limit=100

Read next

The measures that explain this one.
HealthInfant MortalityInfant deaths before age one per 1,000 live births.HealthHIV PrevalenceShare of people ages 15-49 living with HIV.HealthHealth Spending (% of GDP)Current health expenditure as a share of GDP.

Smoking Prevalence: most recent figure per country, highest to lowest

44 countries · each with its own period

The figures at the top of the page compare every country in the same year. This list takes each country’s newest figure instead, whatever its period, so the order can differ.

#CountrySmoking PrevalencePeriod
1Lesotho28%2024
2Madagascar25.6%2024
3Egypt25%2024
4Tunisia24.4%2024
5Libya24.2%2024
6South Africa23.7%2024
7Algeria22.4%2024
8Botswana18%2024
9Mauritius17.7%2024
10Seychelles17.3%2024
11Republic of the Congo16.2%2024
12Zambia14.3%2024
13Gabon13.3%2024
14Morocco12.5%2024
15Democratic Republic of the Congo12.3%2024
16Burkina Faso11.6%2024
17Eswatini11.5%2024
18Sierra Leone11.3%2024
19Gambia11.1%2024
20Zimbabwe11%2024
21Mozambique10.5%2024
22Cabo Verde10.4%2024
23Burundi10.1%2024
24Rwanda10.1%2024
25Mauritania9.9%2024
26Kenya9.6%2024
27Comoros8.9%2024
28Malawi8.9%2024
29Sao Tome and Principe8.3%2024
30Guinea-Bissau8.2%2024
31Tanzania7.7%2024
32Uganda7.5%2024
33Benin7.4%2024
34Chad7.4%2024
35Mali7.4%2024
36Niger7.4%2024
37Cote d'Ivoire7.3%2024
38Togo5.8%2024
39Cameroon5.7%2024
40Senegal5.4%2024
41Ethiopia5.2%2024
42Liberia5.2%2024
43Ghana3.3%2024
44Nigeria3.1%2024
Which observations are included?
The ranking includes 44 of 54 countries with available observations for 2023 or later and within 2 years of the freshest result. Each figure shows its reporting period. Countries without an eligible observation are omitted.
Does a higher value mean a better result?
The ranking is sorted by value, from highest to lowest. The order does not rate a country's performance. Interpretation depends on the indicator and its definition.

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