11 Worst Drug Trafficking Countries in the World

When we mention top drug trafficking countries, we know you’re thinking a South American one is in the first place of 11 worst drug trafficking countries in the world. Well, you couldn’t have been more further. Almost 9,000 miles further, to be more precise.

History of drug and drug trafficking is a long and complicated one. From what we learn in New World Encyclopedia, it hasn’t always been universally acknowledged what is considered to be an illegal drug. Nowadays, there’s no problem discerning that. All countries are very specific about it, and they’re trying to discourage the usage and production as much as possible. However, the efforts seem to be in vain considering the global drug trafficking market is worth half a trillion dollars. Of course, the figures are just estimates since drug dealers aren’t kind enough to show their books to the IRS. Somewhat surprisingly, out of all the drugs in traffic, the biggest revenue seems to be coming from cannabis (between $183- $287 billion), while cocaine is only in the second place with a market value somewhere between $94 billion and $143 billion. To see which countries are world leaders in drug manufacturing, visit our article on 8 countries that produce the most illegal drugs in the world and see which country supplies the most drugs.

On the other side of these unfortunate results are people suffering from drug abuse. Some of the most drug addicted countries in the world are the USA, the UK, Afghanistan, and Russia. Perhaps Great Britain could be said to be a country with biggest drug problems in 2017 since over 15 million people reported trying drugs. Compared to the population of this island, that is an alarming figure. Their ex-colony is also struggling with drug abuse issues. The state of Panjab is most likely the location of the most drug addicted city in India since over 860,000 young men are taking some kind of substance.

Let’s now take a look how we determined on the major drug trafficking countries. Our title says “worst countries,” and we defined it as the most dangerous, deadliest and most productive (in terms of drugs, naturally). Our primary source for the list of countries involved in drug trafficking on a global level was the report made by Buearau of International Narcotics and  Law Enforcement Affairs. Our next stop was the World’s Factbook by CIA which provided data about the largest drug producing countries. In this way, certain countries emerged as the best candidates for our list. The last thing to be done was to rank them accordingly. As it is impossible to find out the exact figures on drug export and production for each of them, we agreed that what is making the matters even worse is if they’re proclaimed as extremely unsafe. World Atlas and the Independent proved to be our reliable sources about the deadliest countries in the world in 2017. These destinations are at the very top of our list, and we ranked them according to one more criterion, which is a death rate per country due to drug use (provided by World Life Expectancy). In the cases when certain countries weren’t in bad enough state to appear on this list, we ranked them according to their production data by CIA (drug cultivated land).

Hopefully, we’ve made the matters clear. Using a lot of factors into account is a habit of ours, all in an effort to present you with the most accurate data. Without further ado, here are 11 worst drug trafficking countries in the world.

11. India

Since India is the world’s largest legal producer of opium for pharmaceutical trade, we can only vaguely guess how much opium is obtained illegally. India is the major transit point for the neighboring countries and Southwest Asia.

10. Peru

Peru was the largest coca leaf producer tJill 1996 but still belongs to the top 5 drug producing countries. Today it can brag with “scarce” 53,000 hectares of coca leaf and the second place. The transit routes lead to Brazil, Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia.

9. Burma (Myanmar)

With 55,500 hectares of poppy, it takes over Peru in the run for the largest number of drug cultivated hectares.

8. Bolivia

Up next on our list of worst drug trafficking countries in the world is Bolivia, which is the world’s third-largest cultivator of coca leaf which is very easily exported to Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, and Europe due to poor customs control.

7. Belize

When it comes to drug-related deaths, Belize is in the worst position from all these 11 worst drug trafficking countries in the world.

From now on, we’re talking about the most dangerous countries, too.

6. Colombia

Alas, the world’s largest producer of cocaine (159,000 hectares) is only in the 6th place when it comes to being the worst drug trafficking country. Colombians are great producers and traders, but luckily they don’t overly enjoy the merchandise.

5. Mexico

Mexico ranks 5th on our list of worst drug trafficking countries in the world. It is definitely one of the countries with highest crime rates in the world. It could be said to be the US’s favorite dealer – around 95% of cocaine arriving in Mexico is meant for the States.

4. Pakistan

The Islamic Republic of Pakistan is among the most lawless countries in the world. It has been struggling with terrorism for a long time. The country is an essential transit area for Afghan drugs, such as heroin, opium, morphine, and hashish.

3. Guatemala

Most of the cocaine smuggled through Guatemala is destined to arrive in the States. Americans are the main customers of 1,000 Mt of cocaine going through this country.

2. Jamaica

Mostly recognized as one of the largest cannabis producers, Jamaica is also the transshipment point for cocaine from South America to North America and Europe. Violent crimes and shootings are the reasons to reconsider your holiday here.

1. Afghanistan

The absolute champion in this unfortunate business and the first in our list of 11 worst drug trafficking countries in the world is Afghanistan. What country supplies the most drugs? This one, if we’re talking about opium. 201,000 hectares of poppy make that happen. As for the trafficking, you can only imagine how much it is being shipped worldwide since The Guardian has just proclaimed it the first true narco-state. The revenues are huge, and they’re only getting bigger. If the US has spent over $1 trillion in the last 16 years, and it still can’t do much because the Taliban are practically economically stable due to drug trafficking…Well, that speaks volumes.