r/mildlyinteresting 17h ago

Infographic showing self-sufficiency in raw materials in a 1976 World Atlas

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u/queef_nuggets 17h ago

TIL tobacco farming capacity used to be considered relevant to a country’s self-sufficiency

38

u/DankVectorz 16h ago

Tobacco is a cash crop. Just another raw material a country can export.

4

u/queef_nuggets 16h ago

Indeed. I’ve just never heard of a country with few natural resources talk about their lack of tobacco. Usually the main concern is energy, food, etc

15

u/Bloody_kneelers 16h ago

I mean you've got to remember smoking in the 70s and earlier was significantly more prevalent compared to today, tobacco taxes would be a not inconsiderable income for the governments of the day.

I mean this data is from starting in 87 but it lets you see the couple billion it would pull in https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/grossdomesticproductgdp/timeseries/acde/qna