Scary statistics about the harmful effects of tobacco

According to the World Health Organization, tobacco is the leading cause of death worldwide and it is also the leading preventable cause of death.

Per year,cigarettetakes the lives of nearly 6 million people, including more than 5 million current and former smokers and more than 600,000 non-smokers who are passively exposed to other people's smoke. The number of people who die from tobacco is greater than the total number of people who die from HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria combined.

Statistics show that in the 20th century, tobacco killed 100 million people. The World Health Organization also warned: If effective tobacco control measures are not implemented immediately, the number of annual deaths due to tobacco could increase to more than 8 million by 2030 and in the 21st century, the number of deaths due to tobacco could reach 1 billion people.

Diseases caused by smoking. Photo: illustration

A 2015 study looked at the impact of smoking on life expectancy between 1980 and 2010. Specifically, 20% of adult deaths in the 63 countries analyzed (24% of men and 12% of women) were linked to smoking. Notably, nearly 80% of the world’s more than one billion smokers live in low- and middle-income countries.

Global tobacco consumption is increasing, despite a decline in tobacco consumption in some high- and middle-income countries. And the risk of tobacco-related deaths remains alarming. Not to mention, the cost of tobacco-related diseases, in developed countries, accounts for 6-15% of total health expenditure.

Diseases caused by passive smoking. Illustration photo

In Vietnam, tobacco-related diseases are the leading cause of death in the country, causing around 40,000 deaths each year – that’s more than 100 people dying from tobacco every day. Without urgent intervention, the estimated number of deaths from tobacco-related diseases each year will increase to 70,000 by 2030.

Vietnam is one of the countries with the highest rate of male smokers in the world, with 47.4% of adult men smoking. Fortunately, the rate of female smokers is low, accounting for only 1.4% of adult women (Global Adult Tobacco Survey). Of the total 15 million smokers, 12.8 million (39.4% of men and 1.2% of women) smoke cigarettes. Currently, there are 4.1 million adults who smoke waterpipes.

67% of non-smokers (about 33 million people) said they were exposed to second-hand smoke at home and 49% of workers (about 5 million people) said they were exposed to second-hand smoke at work.

Sociologists say that if the money spent on cigarettes were used to buy food or spend on other household necessities, more than two million Vietnamese people could escape poverty./.