Basic smoker and smoking statistics

Statics related to smoking and people who smoke.

Everyday we are inundated with commercials that attempt to pound the dangers of smoking into our heads. We see bodies lined up on a city street, names listed on long scrolling pieces of paper and people trying to prove the deceptive marketing tactics of big tobacco companies.  Often this creates a level of curiosity about the statistic related to smoking. Make no mistake about it, those commercials are true and the smoking statistics speak for themselves.

Smoking Statistics

The percentage of people who smoke is staggering, in the America alone 25.9 million men and 20.7 million women are smokers. Ironically, studies show that the percentage of people that are low income and smoke is greater than the percentage of people who are at a high income level. If you consider the cost of smoking this is ironic, but many researchers believe this directly relates to the level of education one has received.  The percentage of individuals below the poverty level whom smoke is a staggering 29.9%. Subsequently, the rate of people who smoke that have completed more than 16 years of education is a mere 7.1 % as opposed to 32.6% among people who have less than 11 years of completed education.  

Why Smoking is Bad for your Health

Smoking increases your chances of developing a variety of cancers, including lung cancer and also increases your risk of heart attack and stroke.  Annually, 438,000 people die in the United States alone from smoking diseases.  The average female smoker shaves about 14.5 years off her life and the average male smoker about 13.2 years. 90% of lung cancer in men and about 80% in women can be attributed to smoking. Male smokers are 23 times more likely to get lung cancer when they smoke and women are 13 times more likely. Smoking also increases your risk of mouth cancer, throat cancer, bladder cancer and esophageal cancer. Stomach, cervical, kidney and pancreatic cancer risks all increase with cigarette use.

Smoking can also lead to other diseases like emphysema, heart disease and hypertension.  Second hand smoke is among the leading causes of respiratory illness in children, along with causing other respiratory related ailments in children.  Pregnant women who smoke account for 20 to 30 percent of the low birth weight babies born each year. Additionally, it is believed that smoking may affect a woman's fertility. A little known fact is that cigarettes are to blame for 25% of the deaths in residential fires each year and cause about 3,300 fire related injuries.

Quitting Smoking

There are many reasons to commit to stop smoking. When an individual quits smoking it reduces their chances of developing a smoking related illness. The chances of developing a smoking related illness can be reduced by over 90%, if a smoker quits smoking by the age of 30.  The younger an individual is when they quit smoking and the longer it has been since they have smoked all affect the likelihood of a former smoker developing a smoking related illness.