SMOKING STATISTICS

Smoking and Lung Cancer Statistics

In the United States, smoking causes 90% of all lung cancer cases in men and 80% in women. About 22% of people smoke in the United States. And about 1 in 5 deaths are caused by smoking. This is not surprising because there are over 4,000 chemicals in cigarettes and 10% of them are known carcinogens. Following are some other smoking and lung cancer statistics in the United States.

• Lung cancer is the 9th leading cause of death in the United States
• The average age for getting diagnosed with lung cancer is 71
• Male smokers are 23% more like than their non-smoking counterparts to get lung cancer
• Female smokers are 13% more likely to get lung cancer than those that don't smoke
• According to the latest statistics, out of the roughly 172,000 most recent cases of lung cancer among both men and women, 91% died from the disease
• Contrary to popular belief, smoking low tar or low nicotine cigarettes does not decrease the risk for lung cancer
• About 5% of all new lung cancer cases are caused by secondhand smoke
• About 7 out of every 8 people who get lung cancer from smoking will die withing five years
• People who quit smoking before the age of 35 can reduce their chances of getting lung cancer by 90%
• In a study conducted in the mid-nineties, male smokers usually lost an average of 13.2 years off their life while women smokers lost 14.5 years
• Following are some interesting international facts about smoking and lung cancer
• Despite a higher smoking rate in Japan (26%), fewer Japanese people get lung cancer from smoking than Americans
• Rates of lung cancer in Scotland are among the highest in the world
• Comparable to the United State, 90% of all lung cancer cases in the United Kingdom and in other European countries are caused by smoking. Also, about 1 in 5 people smoke in the Britain
• The low cases of lung cancer in Sweden are directly proportional to their low smoking rates
• Despite record lows for smokers in Australia, lung cancer rates have increased over 20% for both men and women in the past few years