M&M's Are No. 1

photo illustration by Laurel Daunis-Allen

By Esme Deprez

M&M's Are No. 1

Billions of candy bars and sticks of gum. Billions of dollars. Billions of calories. Anyway you look at it, candy is big business. From the U.S. to India, international giants such as Mars Inc., Cadbury, Nestlé, and Kraft dominate the industry but there is still room for smaller, regional players like South Africa's Tiger Brands and China's Hsu Fu Chi International, each of which is its country's No. 1 candymaker. With data from Euromonitor, BusinessWeek compiled a list of the world's most popular candies and in many countries the results were surprising. While chocolate is still the most popular candy in the world, chewing gum is growing rapidly. The reason behind gum's growth? Tougher antismoking campaigns and aggressive pushes by manufacturers into new markets.

To find out what the top 25 best-selling candies are by country across the globe, read on. Just don't blame us if you feel hungry afterwards.