Indonesians top smokers in world
New Delhi: Male smoking rate is high in Asian countries, with Indonesian men ranked the worlds top smokers as 76% of them smoke, reports Asia News Network.
According to the WHO estimates tobacco kills around 6 million people annually around the globe causing a damage of trillions of dollars to the world economy.
Countries across Asia project gloomy trends when it comes to the prevalence of smoking amongst various demographics.
The Asian continent is home to more than 30 percent of world smokers with more than 80 percent of these smokers coming from lower income groups. With feeble commitments to curb the smoking trends, Indonesia has the highest male smoking percentage in Asia at 76 percent. The annual cost of treating the tobacco related diseases in the country is estimated to be 0.29% of the countrys GDP.
Laos has higher smoking rate compared to other adjacent countries. 57% of its male population is addicted to tobacco beginning as early as 13- 15 years of age. In South Korea male smoking rate is 50%, contributing to countrys 21.4 percent deaths caused by tobacco annually.
Realising the toll of rising smoking cases in the country, China signed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control much earlier than other countries to reduce the prevalence of smoking.
