Daily chart Where smoking is the leading cause of death and ill health

Daily chartWhere smoking is the leading cause of death and ill health


Rich countries are hit the hardest but poor ones may soon follow





TODAY is World No Tobacco Day. Although in most countries the proportion of people who smoke continues to fall, campaigners see the glass as half full. In 24 countries smoking causes the largest share of the overall burden of disease, measured in years lost to ill health and premature death. In another 37 countries it ranks second. Most of these 61 countries are rich. Although their smoking rates are falling, much of the decline is because fewer young people are picking up the habit, rather than because older smokers are quitting. The harms from smoking affect people most seriously after middle age, so countries where smoking became popular a generation or more ago are worst affected—for now.

In poor countries, smoking is still a less important cause of death and disability than several other things, such as dirty water and malnutrition. Few African and Asian women light up—smoking is often socially acceptable only for men. In many of the poorest countries, smoking is still uncommon—though in some it is on the rise. As developing countries grow less poor, other harms will dwindle and smoking will start to look deadlier by comparison.