Tomorrow is the 18th "World No Tobacco Day" and the theme this
year is "Tobacco erodes life".
According to the statistics released at the "Smoking and Health"
conference, organized yesterday by the Information Office under the
Ministry of Health (MOH), there are about 350 million smokers in
China, and people were urged to look after their health.
According to the MOH, the ratio of smokers among over
15-year-olds in China had dropped to 35.8 percent from 37.6 percent
in 1996. For males the figure had dropped very slightly to 66.0
percent from 66.9 percent, and for females it was also marginally
lowered from 4.2 percent to 3.1 percent.
However, due to an increasing population and the fact that
people are living longer, the number of smokers has actually jumped
by 30 million over the past decade.?
The statistics also identify that people were starting to smoke
earlier with a rising ratio of smokers aged between 15-24. The
average age for someone to start smoking has fallen to 19.7 years
from 22.4 in 1984.
Among the male smokers there was evidence that those with a good
education became addicted to tobacco more readily. According to the
MoH, over 50 percent of doctors and teachers smoked and China had
huge number of doctors who used tobacco.
According to related statistics, the Chinese smokers consume
about 1.6 trillion sticks annually, accounting for one third of the
world's consumption.
It's estimated that almost 1 million people in China die
annually from diseases associated with smoking and that figure
could rise to 2 million by 2020.
"World No Tobacco Day" has been observed around the world
annually on May 31 since 1989. This yearly event is designed to
inform the public of the dangers of using tobacco, the business
practices of tobacco companies, what the World Health Organization
is doing to fight back and how the world can claim back their right
to healthy living and protect future generations.
(China.org.cn by Wang Ke, May 30, 2006)