Guardian international correspondent Michael Safi tells Anushka Asthana about why he decided to look into smoking rates in the Middle Eastern kingdom of Jordan. They have become the highest in the world, with more than eight in 10 Jordanian men smoking or regularly using nicotine products including vapes and e-cigarettes, according to a government study carried out in 2019 in collaboration with the World Health Organization. Jordanian men who smoke daily consume an average of 23 cigarettes a day, the survey found.

But Michael’s story soon turned into an investigation as he began to uncover what public-health advocates say is widespread interference in policymaking by multinational tobacco companies. The industry casts itself as a major investor and job creator, an especially potent argument in a country with high unemployment, where tobacco taxes amount to around 18% of the government’s annual revenue. The impacts of so much smoking are already stark: tobacco use is linked to one in eight deaths in the country, compared with one in 10 deaths worldwide, and costs Jordan’s GDP an estimated three times the global average.