PAPUA New Guinea was ranked as having one of the highest rates of smoking in 2012.
The country ranks fifth with 51.4 per cent of the population classed as smokers. The highest is East Timor with 61.1 per cent, Indonesia with 57 per cent, Kiribati with 54.4 per cent, and Armenia with 51.7 per cent, according to American research. Globally, smoking prevalence - the percentage of the population that smokes everyday - has decreased, but the number of cigarette smokers worldwide has increased due to population growth, according to the new research from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington. More people smoke worldwide today than in 1980, as the population surges and cigarettes gain popularity in countries such as China, India and Russia, researchers said on Tuesday. China boasted nearly 100 million more smokers in 2012 than it had three decades ago, even though its smoking rate fell from 30 to 24 per cent in that span, said the findings in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The rise in the number of smokers comes despite an overall decline in the smoking rate in recent decades, as many people have realised the health dangers of tobacco, said the report. "Since we know that half of all smokers will eventually be killed by tobacco, greater numbers of smokers will mean a massive increase in premature deaths in our lifetime," said co-author Alan Lopez of the University of Melbourne. The study measured data from 187 countries. "Where countries take strong action, tobacco use can be dramatically reduced," said the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids president Matthew Myers. PNG Facts / Post Courier Comments are closed.
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