It is estimated about 3.5 million Chinese will die each year from tobacco-related illnesses by 2030, according to a report issued here Thursday.

This is higher than the previous estimate of 3 million deaths per year by 2050, showing the smoking epidemic is worsening in China, said Sarah England, an official of the China office of the World Health Organization, in an interview with Xinhua.

"It gives a very worrying signal to us that we need to act very quickly to address the problem," England said.

If indeed 3.5 million people die of tobacco-related illnesses in 2030, this will likely account for 25 percent of all deaths of Chinese people over the age of 40, said the report titled "Tobacco Control and China's Future" which reviewed the tobacco control in China -- a country with over 300 million smokers.

The report was a joint assessment done by a group of Chinese and foreign health experts and economists, who agreed that the effect of tobacco control was weak, and tobacco had brought the greatest harm to human health in China.

China has witnessed an increasing number of tobacco-related deaths since 2000. There were 1.2 million tobacco-related deaths in 2005, and by 2030, China will enter the peak period, which will have enormous economic costs.

Tobacco use will create a big economic burden for the whole society and pose a severe challenge for the country's health care system, said the report.

The report is based on latest statistics including new data from WHO's global adult tobacco survey that was launched in 2010.

The survey showed that 75 percent of Chinese did not fully understand the harm of smoking to human health, and 67 percent did not understand the harm of passive smoking.

The report said smoking was still accepted by the mainstream in China and was widely popular among the Chinese people.

Latest statistics showed that the high prevalence of smoking among men had persisted, and most smokers did not want to quit.

In 2010, about 740 million Chinese people suffered from passive smoking, and exposure to second-hand smoke was universal in public places.

The report calls for increasing public's awareness about the dangers of smoking.