Worldwide, between 80,000 and 100,000 kids start smoking every day. Approximately one quarter of children alive in the Western Pacific Region* will die from smoking.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has compiled worldwide smoking statistics for the year 2002. The smoking facts and stats presented are sobering. A portion of the report appears below, but to read it in it’s entirety, click here.
28 May 2002 GLOBAL SMOKING STATISTICS
- About a third of the male adult global population smokes.
- Smoking related-diseases kill one in 10 adults globally, or cause four million deaths.
By 2030, if current trends continue, smoking will kill one in six people.
- Every eight seconds, someone dies from tobacco use.
- Smoking is on the rise in the developing world but falling in developed nations. Among Americans, smoking rates shrunk by nearly half in three decades (from the mid-1960s to mid-1990s), falling to 23% of adults by 1997. In the developing world, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year.
- About 15 billion cigarettes are sold daily – or 10 million every minute.
- About 12 times more British people have died from smoking than from World War II.
- Cigarettes cause more than one in five American deaths.
- Among WHO Regions, the Western Pacific Region – which covers East Asia and the Pacific – has the highest smoking rate, with nearly two-thirds of men smoking.
- About one in three cigarettes are consumed in the Western Pacific Region.
- The tobacco market is controlled by just a few corporations – namely American, British and Japanese multinational conglomerates.
Youth
- Among young teens (aged 13 to 15), about one in five smokes worldwide.
- Between 80,000 and 100,000 children worldwide start smoking every day – roughly half of whom live in Asia.
- Evidence shows that around 50% of those who start smoking in adolescent years go on to smoke for 15 to 20 years.
- Peer-reviewed studies show teenagers are heavily influenced by tobacco advertising.
- About a quarter of youth alive in the Western Pacific Region will die from smoking.
Dean Sunseri is a Licensed Professional Counselor who has specialized in treating addiction. His website is www.IHaveaVoice.com .
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