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investigation

Smoking for the state

In 17 countries and Taiwan, tobacco isn't just big business — it's government business. A global investigation examines how state-ownership of cigarette companies influences public health.
Illustration: Rocco Fazzari
Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

We figured out the deadliest company in the world. You’ve probably never heard of it.

China Tobacco’s products have likely caused at least 57 million deaths since 1990. No other company comes close, our analysis shows.

May 2, 2026
Watch:

The World's Deadliest Company

This video was produced by the YouTube channel fern, based on original reporting by The Examination.

Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

How we determined the world’s deadliest company

We found that no company rivals the more than 57 million smoking-related deaths likely caused by China Tobacco’s products since 1990. Here’s how we did it.

May 2, 2026
Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

When governments own tobacco companies, who watches out for your health?

At least 17 countries have a stake in the tobacco industry, making them responsible for a product that is a leading cause of preventable death.

August 28, 2025
Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

How Imperial Brands’ contract kept cigarette prices low in Laos — while secretly enriching a political insider

The deal delivered millions to an in-law of the former president, Bounnhang Vorachit, while blocking tobacco tax hikes for 25 years.

June 17, 2025
Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

 Big Tobacco was forced to stop marketing ‘low tar’ cigarettes. In China, sales are booming.

With deceptive health appeals, China Tobacco finds growth amid global slowdown.

August 15, 2024
Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

How Philip Morris International secured a stake in one of the world’s few growing cigarette markets

The tobacco giant and its longtime business associate quietly gained a major foothold in Egypt, as the country sold off its stake in its state tobacco monolith.

May 8, 2024

Why you’d want to make a company more efficient whose primary product kills half its customers is beyond me.

Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

How China became addicted to its tobacco monopoly

For two decades, China Tobacco has undermined a landmark anti-smoking treaty. Millions more deaths are predicted as a result.

September 13, 2023
Illustration of smokers outside China's Great Hall of the People
Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

China Tobacco, by the numbers

Measuring the power and influence of the world’s largest cigarette manufacturer.

September 28, 2023

China's unwavering tobacco addiction

Big tobacco
Smoking for the state

Cheap cigarettes, misleading marketing and interference by a tobacco monopoly

Six ways China has side-stepped the global anti-tobacco treaty

September 13, 2023

2.4 trillion

cigarettes sold in China in 2022 – roughly equivalent to the number sold in the next 67 countries combined

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