Smoking is the single greatest preventable cause of premature death and avoidable illness. It affects health directly and contributes to diseases such as cancers, coronary heart disease, lung disease and stroke as well as many others.
- 9.4 million adults in the UK smoke
- Smoking kills 2800 people in NI each year
- 320 deaths each day in the UK are due to smoking
- 22% of men and 21% of women smoke the UK (General Lifestyle Survey 2008)
- 24% of men and 24% of women smoke in NI (CHS 2010)
Tobacco is killing more people in NI than illegal drug use, road traffic accidents, suicides and AIDS combined. Twenty three percent of the population of Northern Ireland are smokers with smoking causing 2300 deaths each year in Northern Ireland and 120,000 deaths UK wide. Approximately half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their habit as each cigarette shortens the lifespan by five minutes, which on average shortens the smoker’s life by 10-15 years.
Smoking 20 cigarettes a day costs a person approximately £2000 per year. Seventy percent of smokers want to give it up but find it extremely difficult because of their addiction to tobacco.
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