75 billion sold a year

Smoking - The Facts

• The steady decline of smoking through the 1970s and 1980s stopped in the early part of the decade, prompting a spate of anti-smoking advertisements.
• Last year 28% of men and 26% of women smoked. The target set by the Conservative Government was 20% for both sexes by the end of the decade.
• The rate of women dying from smoking-related diseases is increasing - one woman in 1995 was dying every 12 minutes around the world.
• Tobacco-related deaths will almost treble from three million in 1990 to 8.4 million in 2020, making it the largest health problem in the world.
• Tobacco advertising has not been seen on television screens in Britain for decades. There are now calls to ban it altogether.
• Increased tax on cigarettes has been a feature of the Budget for the last three years.
• Cigarette companies in the US last month agreed to pay £225 billion over the next 25 years into a fund for sick smokers.
• Taking a lead from America, 47 British smokers suffering from lung cancer took legal action for the first time for compensation against tobacco companies earlier this month.