I have anecdotally observed much higher rates of smoking among friends and on the streets in South Asia (mainly India) vs. USA, but interestingly the data seems to indicate the opposite.
A few points about smoking in India:
* Ban on smoking in public places, streets is not strictly followed at all
* Cigarettes are available in every nook and cranny. There is hardly a road side tea shop that doesn't sell cigarettes
* Cigarette sticks can be bought (as against buying a entire pack), more so in road side tea shops
Yeah. I have also often heard westeners saying that "people in China(or Asia) smoke so much!" etc. which is probably true if we are dealing with absolute numbers.
When looking at the relative numbers however, there are more smokers in France than in China and smokers in Sweden consume more cigarettes each day.
Maybe smoking in public is more common in China/Asia?