Health and Healthcare

More Than a Billion People Smoke Tobacco

In a piece of news that should hearten the cigarette industry and send chills down the spines of world health officials, a new study claims that a billion adults smoke tobacco worldwide. Incidentally, to make health problems worse, many have alcohol-use problems.

In an article in a medical publication, researchers who penned a new study titled “Global Statistics on Addictive Behaviours: 2014 Status Report” wrote:

A new study published today in the journal Addiction has compiled the best, most up-to-date evidence on addictive disorders globally. It shows that almost 5% of the world’s adult population (240 million people) have an alcohol use disorder and more than 20% (1 billion people) smoke tobacco. Getting good data on other drugs such as heroin and cannabis is much more difficult but for comparison the number of people injecting drugs is estimated at around 15 million worldwide.

ALSO READ: States Using the Most Mind-Altering Drugs

It is fair to assume that these habits erode worker productivity and produce a massive strain on the health system, and the report’s authors offer some analysis of this:

For example, alcohol use is estimated to result in loss of 257 disability adjusted life year per 100,000 of population compared with just 83 for illicit drugs.

The harm is much greater in some regions than in others:

There are huge regional differences in use of addictive drugs. The heaviest drinkers are in Eastern Europe where 13.6 litres of alcohol is consumed per head of population each year, followed by Northern Europe at 11.5 litres. Central, Southern and Western Asia have the lowest consumption at 2.1 litres.

Eastern Europe also has the most smokers at 30.0% of adults, closely followed by Oceania at 29.5% and Western Europe at 28.5%. This compares with Africa at 14%. North and Central America with the Caribbean having the highest rates of injecting drug use at 0.8%, which is more than twice the rate in Northern Europe at 0.3%.

One of the messages of the study is that legal drugs do far more damage than illegal ones. Maybe that is because illegal drugs are harder to come by. That is good news for the world’s largest producers of alcohol and tobacco.

ALSO READ: The States With the Highest (and Lowest) Obesity Rates

Want to Retire Early? Start Here (Sponsor)

Want retirement to come a few years earlier than you’d planned? Or are you ready to retire now, but want an extra set of eyes on your finances?

Now you can speak with up to 3 financial experts in your area for FREE. By simply clicking here you can begin to match with financial professionals who can help you build your plan to retire early. And the best part? The first conversation with them is free.

Click here to match with up to 3 financial pros who would be excited to help you make financial decisions.

 

Have questions about retirement or personal finance? Email us at [email protected]!

By emailing your questions to 24/7 Wall St., you agree to have them published anonymously on a673b.bigscoots-temp.com.

By submitting your story, you understand and agree that we may use your story, or versions of it, in all media and platforms, including via third parties.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.