Filipinos Among World’s Top Smokers – Survey

• Tweet
• Pin It

Despite the existence of laws that limit smoking, male Filipino smokers are among the top smokers in the world occupying the ninth spot following India and China among others, data from the American Cancer Society and World Lung Foundation revealed on Tuesday.

The 2008 data was revealed by the Department of Health (DoH) as it sought to emphasize the urgency of the passage of the sin tax bill.

Other top male smokers in the world tobacco atlas ahead of the Philippines are Indonesia, the Russian Federation, USA, Japan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan.

Male Chinese smokers took the top spot with 311,203,202, followed by India with 229,392,725; Indonesia, 53,392,709; the Russian Federation, 32,827,525; USA, 32,474,518; Bangladesh, 21,453,3412; Pakistan; 17,723, 216; and the Philippines on ninth spot with 17,634,512.

Meanwhile, female Filipino smokers are also a worsening lot as they climbed from the 26th spot in 2006 to 16th place in 2008.

Topping the list are American female smokers at 23,671,860; China, 13,532,810; India, 11,908,517; the Russian Federation, 10,189,820 and the Philippines, 3,848,908.

The Philippines’ global adult tobacco survey in 2009 revealed that adult current smokers 15 years and above reached 17.3 million with 14.6 million males and 2.8 million females.

Meanwhile, one in five youth aged 13 to 15 years old currently smoke cigarettes.

Continue reading at Manila Bulletin