Smoking: the facts

The Daily Telegraph
(2004)

Around 12 million adults in the UK smoke cigarettes - about 26 per cent of women and 28 per cent of men.

The 20-34 age group has the most smokers - 37 per cent. Every day in the UK, around 450 children take up the habit, and about one fifth of 15-year-olds smoke.

Tobacco smoke contains more than 4,000 chemicals including carbon monoxide.

About 120,000 smokers die every year in the UK as a result of their habit, and half of regular cigarette smokers will be killed by their habit.

Smoking causes lung cancer and has been linked to cancer of the kidney, liver, pancreas, bladder, mouth, lip and throat. It increases the risk of heart disease, has been associated with impotence in men, and can cause miscarriages in pregnant women.

Around 70 per cent of smokers want to give up.

.