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Current, reliable information about the tobacco pandemic is available in Tobacco Control
Country Profiles 2003, a report that describes the situation in 196 countries and territories
around the world; 192 WHO Member States, two WHO associate Member States (Puerto Rico
and Tokelau), Hong Kong (Special Administrative Region of China), and the West Bank and
Gaza Strip (presented together).
This country-by-country data supports the 12th World Conference on Tobacco or Health held
in Helsinki, Finland, during August 2003. |
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Tobacco is already the single greatest cause of preventable death in the world. If current trends continue,
500 million people alive today will eventually die prematurely and needlessly from tobacco-related disease.
John R. Seffrin, PhD
Chief Executive Officer
American Cancer Society
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The profiles give governments and nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) an updated, standardized reference about the national and regional
tobacco problem. It also identifies knowledge gaps that require further research.
"The data in this report demonstrate the immense size and scope of the tobacco pandemic,"
wrote John R. Seffrin, PhD, CEO of the American Cancer Society. "It should serve to mobilize the
full force of the tobacco control community.”
Among the findings in this report:
- Worldwide, approximately 1.3 billion people currently smoke cigarettes or other tobacco
products (approximately 1 billion men, 250 million women).
- Globally, the prevalence of tobacco use is substantially higher in men (47 percent) than in
women (12 percent) but significantly increasing smoking rates among women were noted in
Cambodia, Malaysia and Bangladesh.
- Female smoking prevalence is actually higher than male smoking prevalence in the Cook
Islands, Nauru, Norway, Papua New Guinea, and Sweden thanks largely to aggressive tobacco
industry marketing of cigarettes to women.
- In 1995, more smokers lived in low- and middle-income countries (933 million) than in
high-income countries (209 million).
- About 35 percent of men in developed countries smoke, compared with almost 50 percent
of men in developing nations and almost two-thirds of men in China.
- Currently, more than 600,000 annual smoking-attributable deaths occur in China alone.
- If current smoking patterns continue, deaths from smoking in Asia—home to one third of the
world’s population—are expected to increase to 4.9 million per year by 2020.
The American Cancer Society, the World Health Organization, and the International Union
Against Cancer jointly published the Tobacco Control Country Profiles 2003. The World
Health Organization, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the World Bank Group,
among many other individuals and groups, provided data and other resources in support of this
project.
The following documents are in portable document format (pdf). You will need Adobe® Reader® to view these files.
Copyright waiver
Because Tobacco Control Country Profiles 2003 is intended to serve as a reference
book and a resource for tobacco control advocates, any part of the book may
be reproduced without seeking copyright permission from the editors or the American
Cancer Society; citation as to source, however, is appreciated.
Introduction and Overview of Global Tobacco Surveillance
Methods
Regional Summaries
African Region (AFRO)
Region of the Americas (PAHO)
Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMRO)
European Region (EURO)
South-East Asia Region (SEARO)
Western Pacific Region (WPRO)
Country Profiles
Appendix A: Tobacco Control Organizations and Contacts
Appendix B: Legislation
Suggested citation: Shafey O, Dolwick S, Guindon GE (eds).
Tobacco Control Country Profiles 2003, American Cancer Society, Atlanta, GA, 2003.
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