Here are a few facts related to smoking…we thought may interest you.

• There are over 2,000 chemicals in cigarette tobacco smoke, and 68 are known to be cancer causing

• One billion people, or 14% of today’s global population, are expected to die this century due to smoking related diseases

• Second-hand smoke increases the risk of heart disease in a non-smoker by 25-30 percent

• Second-hand smoke increases the risk of lung cancer in a non-smoker by 20-30 percent

• 83% of U.S. smokers start before they are 18 years old

• Cigarettes are extruded (manufactured) at a rate of 300 million miles per year. That is 630 round trips to the moon, or 3 times the distance to the sun.

• 5.9 trillion cigarettes were consumed globally in 2009, or about 11 million every minute every day

• 865 cigarettes consumed for every man, woman and child in the world

• 80% of smokers live in low or middle-income countries

• Approximately 20% of the world’s adult population smokes, 800 million men and 200 million women

• China consumed 38% of cigarettes globally in 2009, or 2.3 trillion

• The U.S. is 3rd in global consumption at 316 billion cigarettes annually, behind China and Russia

• Serbia had the highest consumption per capita, at 2,861 cigarettes followed closely by Bulgaria (2,822), Greece (2,795), and Russia (2,786)