Smoking stable worldwide: Tobacco Atlas

More than 5.8 trillion cigarettes were smoked worldwide last year, about the same number as were smoked in 2013, according to a Reuters report relayed by the TMA and citing figures from the Tobacco Atlas.

The latest issue of the Atlas, which is produced by the World Lung Foundation (WLF) and the American Cancer Society, was released yesterday during the World Conference on Tobacco or Health, which is being held in Abu Dhabi this week.

The stability in the level of smoking was put down to rising consumption in China having balanced falling consumption elsewhere.

Meanwhile, in 2013, the last year for which detailed figures are available, 6.3 million people were said to have died from ‘smoking-related illness’.

At the same time, the top six transnational companies were said to have generated profits totaling US$44.1 billion, which the WLF said was equivalent to a profit of US$7,000 for each ‘smoking-related death’.

The report said that if current trends continued, a billion people would die a smoking-related death this century.

Low- and middle-income countries account for more than 80 percent of tobacco product users and tobacco-related deaths.

The report said also that in 24 countries the smoking rate among ‘girls’ was higher than the rate among ‘boys’, while in just two countries more women than men smoked.