Facts about smoking and second hand smoke

Fact 1

Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of death in the world. It causes 1 in 10 deaths among adults worldwide. In 2005, tobacco caused 5.4 million deaths, or an average of one death every 6 seconds. The death toll is projected to reach 8.3 million by 2030 if current trends continue.

Fact 2

Tobacco kills half of its regular users. On average 29% of people around the world are smokers. Smoking is more common among men (47.5% of all men) than women (10.3%). Of the 1.3 billion smokers alive today, 650 million are likely to be killed by tobacco, half of them dying between the ages of 35 and 69.

Fact 3

More than one billion smokers, or 84% of all smokers, live in developing and transitional economy countries. By 2030, 70% of deaths attributable to tobacco will occur in the developing world.

Fact 4

Tobacco caused 100 million deaths in the 20th century. If current trends continue, there will be one billion deaths in the 21st century.

Fact 5

The smoke produced by burning tobacco products is known as second-hand tobacco smoke or environmental tobacco smoke. Tobacco smoke in enclosed spaces is breathed by everyone, exposing both smokers and non-smokers to its harmful effects. This is commonly referred to as involuntary smoking or passive smoking.

Fact 6

Second-hand tobacco smoke is dangerous to health. There are about 4000 known chemicals in tobacco smoke; more than 50 of them are known to cause cancer. Second-hand smoke also causes heart disease and many serious respiratory and cardiovascular diseases in adults which can lead to death.

Fact 7

An estimated 700 million children, or almost half of the world’s children, breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke, particularly at home. Second-hand smoke causes many serious diseases in children and worsens conditions such as asthma.

Fact 8

The International Labour Organization estimates that at least 200 000 workers die every year due to exposure to smoke at work. The United States Environmental Protection Agency estimates that second-hand smoke is responsible for about 3000 lung cancer deaths annually among non-smokers in the country.

Fact 9

Exposure to second-hand smoke also imposes economic costs on individuals, businesses and society as a whole, in the form of direct and indirect medical costs and productivity losses.

Fact 10

There is no safe level of exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke. Neither ventilation nor filtration, even in combination, can reduce the exposure indoors to levels that are considered acceptable. Only 100% smoke-free environments provide effective protection.