FACTBOX: Tobacco could kill 1 billion this century-report
(Reuters) - Tobacco could kill one billion people this century if current trends hold, global health experts said in a report issued Tuesday.
Following are some of the main findings in the new Tobacco Atlas by the World Lung Foundation and the American Cancer Society.
FINANCIAL COST
* Tobacco use costs the global economy $500 billion a year in direct medical expenses, lost productivity and environmental harm.
* Tobacco takes the place of potential food production on almost 9.9 million acres (4 million hectares) of the planet's agricultural land, equal to the world's orange groves or banana plantations.
HUMAN COST
* 100 million people were killed by tobacco in the 20th century.
* Tobacco accounts for one out of every 10 deaths worldwide.
* Smokers die an average of 15 years earlier than nonsmokers.
* Tobacco use will kill 6 million people in 2010 from cancer, heart disease, emphysema and other diseases.
* Tobacco kills one-third to one-half of those who smoke.
* The risk of dying from lung cancer is more than 23 times higher for men who smoke than for nonsmokers and 13 times higher for women smokers.
* Occupational exposure to secondhand smoke kills 200,000 workers every year.
CHILDREN
* Tobacco use will eventually kill 250 million of today's teenagers and children.
* Nearly one-quarter of young people who smoke tried their first cigarette before the age of 10.
* 50 million Chinese children, mostly boys, will die prematurely from tobacco-related diseases.
WHO SMOKES?
* 1 billion men smoke -- 35 percent of men in rich countries and 50 percent of men in developing countries.
* About 250 million women smoke daily -- 22 percent of women in developed countries and 9 percent of women in developing countries.
* Smoking rates among women are either stable or increasing in several southern, central and eastern European countries.
* Nearly 60 percent of Chinese men smoke and China consumes more than 37 percent of the world's cigarettes.
The report is available at www.tobaccoatlas.org/
(Reporting by Maggie Fox in Washington, editing by Sandra Maler)
