site.btaOne in Three Bulgarians Smokes Daily

One in Three Bulgarians Smokes Daily

Sofia, March 14 (BTA) - A national survey of the health risk factors until 2020 shows that 37 per cent of adult Bulgarians are tobacco smokers. The survey was conducted in 2015 by the National Centre of Public Health and Analyses.

Thirty-three per cent of women and 42 per cent of men in Bulgaria smoke. Almost one in three - 59 per cent of men and 57 per cent of women - are daily smokers.

A further breakdown shows that 92 per cent of daily smokers who have had this habit for over one year are men in the 35-64 age group. About 37 per cent of smokers have had this habit for 26 or more years. About 2 per cent of all smokers smoke 20 plus cigarettes a day. Most women smoke about 10 cigarettes a day and most men smoke about 15 cigarettes a day.

The age of initiation for 59 per cent of men and 57 per cent of women smokers is between 16 and 20. Twenty-one per cent of men and 13 per cent of women in Bulgaria were aged between 10 and 15 when they started smoking.

Just one in five smokers - 20 per cent of women and 22 per cent of men - wants to kick the habit. About half of smokers do not want to give up smoking ever. Nicotine dependence was found in 56 per cent of smokers, with 56 per cent of men and 49 per cent of women saying they light their first cigarette of the day within 30 minutes of waking up. Most smokers who have kicked the habit are men over 45 and women in the 25-54 age group.

The National Centre is concerned that more than 30 per cent of Bulgarian school students (40 per cent of girls and 35 per cent of boys) have experimented with smoking, and 28 per cent of girls and 21 per cent of boys have a smoking habit. Thirty-eight per cent of 15-19 year olds, mostly girls, are smokers. A mere 6 per cent of 10-14 year olds, mostly boys, are smokers.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated that tobacco use (smoking and smokeless) is currently responsible for the death of about six million people across the world each year, with many of these deaths occurring prematurely. By 2030 their number is expected to reach 10 million and tobacco use will become a leading single cause of death worldwide, according to a WHO study of the economic and health problems associated with tobacco use.

In the WHO Europe Region, tobacco smoking accounts for about 12 per cent of the global burden of disease and is the cause of up to 20 per cent of all deaths. The figures for Bulgaria are 13 per cent and 12 per cent respectively.