Smoking Around The World: The Facts
Posted 5th Nov 2015 to Quit Smoking
We’ve written a great deal about smoking statistics in the UK, like how 100,000 people die here every year of smoking-related illnesses. However, that number is a tiny fraction of the nearly 6 million people around the world who die from smoking every year. Below you’ll find some facts about smoking in other countries.
Say it ain’t so, Mexico! There’s a lot to love about this beautiful country, including the fact that ancient civilisations there probably invented chocolate. Sadly, millions of people there are afflicted by an addiction to combustible cigs, which causes the deaths of anywhere from 25,000 to 65,000 people per year.
Each year in New Zealand, 5,000 deaths occur as the result of smoking or smoke exposure. This might sound small, but that’s 13 people a day.
India is the second most populous nation in the world, with over 1.2 billion people living there. According to recent World Health Organization data, as much as 14%, or 168 million Indians are tobacco smokers, with 1 million smoking-related deaths each year. There, the most popular cigarette is the “bidi,” which claim to be “all-natural” though they could be even more dangerous than regular cigs.
Although South Africa is considered to have some of the world’s best and most enforced anti-smoking legislation, it still ranks as having the 20th highest incidence of smoking among adult citizens.
In China, which boasts the world’s largest population of 1.3 billion, smoking is incredibly popular. As of 2014, there were nearly 300 million smokers in that country, where, like in India, around 1 million people die each year from the harmful habit. China is also a country that’s figuring out how or if it will regulate vaping. We strongly hope that the government will act sensibly and allow its citizens who might use vaping as a quitting aid to do so freely.
Whether you live in a massive nation of over 1 billion, or a small island of less than 5 million, smoking is probably a major health issue in your country. We only hope these numbers go down as the popularity of vaping rises internationally.