Two million Chinese will die of smoking-related illnesses by 2020, double the figure for 2000, if the number of smokers continues to grow at present rates, health officials warned Tuesday.

The Ministry of Health said nearly one million Chinese died from smoking-related diseases in 2000, more than the total death toll from AIDS, tuberculosis, traffic accidents and suicide.

Kong Lingzhi, of the ministry's division of chronic diseases, said half of the estimated two million fatalities in 2020 would be aged between 35 and 64.

She said at the launch of the Chinese version of a World Health Organization (WHO) global report on the prevention of chronic diseases that China's smoking population had exceeded 350 million.

And she warned that smokers were taking up the habit at a younger age with the number of smokers aged 18 or under at 50 million.

The ministry's most recent nationwide survey conducted in 2002 showed 66 percent of men and 3.08 percent of women smoked, a rise of 30 million compared with 1996.

The surveys also showed women and children were major passive smokers both at home and in public, with 55 percent of women over the age of 15 subjected to passive smoking every day.

China is the world's largest tobacco producing and consuming country, accounting for more than a third of the global total on both counts.

Tobacco was a leading cause of chronic diseases and China had to implement measures to cut the number of smokers, said WHO officials at Tuesday's meeting.

The government has banned smoking on public transport, but it is still allowed in many public places including restaurants. Public awareness is low as well, officials warned.

Although the tobacco industry contributed up to 10 percent of tax revenue, it was no reason for inaction, said Robert Beaglehole, director of the WHO's department of chronic diseases and health promotion.

"The cost of tobacco use to countries and families is far greater than that 10 percent," he said.

Like many developing and developed countries, China faces significant health challenges in curbing chronic diseases.

The Chinese version of the WHO global report was jointly launched by the Ministry of Health and the WHO on Tuesday.

"Without action, an estimated 388 million people will die globally from chronic diseases in the next 10 years. Over 80 million of those deaths will be in China," WHO officials estimated.

The report, "Preventing chronic diseases: a vital investment", focuses on prevention of major chronic conditions, primarily heart disease, strokes, cancer, asthma and diabetes.

Chronic non-communicable diseases are the top killer in China, accounting for 80 percent of total deaths. Heart disease, strokes and diabetes and other chronic diseases will incur an economic loss of US$550 billion over the next 10 years in China, estimates the WHO.

The health ministry has been developing the first medium and long-term high level national plan for chronic disease control and prevention, which incorporates comprehensive and integrated programs until 2015 to effectively fight such illnesses, said Vice-Health Minister Wang Longde.

In 2002, China established the national center for chronic and non-communicable disease control and prevention responsible for monitoring and intervention.

The center was designated on Tuesday as a WHO Collaborating Center on Community-based Integrated Non-communicable Disease Control and Prevention.

(Xinhua News Agency May 10, 2006)