A recent report by the Guardian found that Jordan now has the world’s highest smoking rate, with 90.8% of those who smoke daily smoking manufactured cigarettes and “consume an average of 23 cigarettes a day."
A 2019 Jordanian Ministry of Health study in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO) found that 82% of Jordanian men use nicotine in some form, including cigarettes, smokeless. or e-cigarettes.
The study also showed that even when excluding e-cigarettes and other smokeless products, the 66% of Jordanian men and more than 17% of women were smokers.
Public health and anti-smoking advocates are saying that Jordan’s highest smoking rate is due to “widespread interference in policy-making by multinational tobacco companies” because the tobacco companies participated in meetings with the government last year to discuss standards for e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products, as well as supporting the adoption of regulation comparable to EU directives.