Death by Smoking: Still shockingly high in the USA
Josh Mitteldorf
United Nations / WHO recently released a report, finding that the American death rate from smoking is the highest in the world.
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Smoking in public has declined dramatically since social acceptance changed, and gradually state laws followed in the 1990s and 2000s. The overall smoking rate in the United States is only half what it was in 1950.
Time to declare victory and move on to other issues? ...maybe not. Tobacco is still killing Americans in shockingly high numbers.
The World Health Organization of the United Nations has just released a report analyzing the effect of tobacco use on death rates around the world. Despite the fact that smoking is more prevalent and better-accepted in other countries, the USA has the world's highest death rates from smoking. 23% of all deaths in America can be traced to smoking, compared to 5% in France and 12% in Japan, both of which have higher smoking rates and lower rates of mortality overall.
Proportion of deaths attributable to tobacco
|
Russia |
4% |
|
France |
5% |
|
Brazil |
6% |
|
Italy |
7% |
|
Germany |
9% |
|
China |
11% |
|
Japan |
12% |
|
GLOBAL AVERAGE |
12% |
|
Australia |
14% |
|
United Kingdom |
20% |
|
Canada |
20% |
|
USA |
23% |
Submitters Website: http://daily-inspiration.org
Submitters Bio:
Josh Mitteldorf, a senior editor at OpEdNews, was educated to be an astrophysicist, and has branched out from there to mathematical modeling in a variety of areas. He has taught mathematics, statistics, and physics at several universities. He is an avid amateur pianist, and father of two adopted Chinese girls. This year, his affiliation is with the University of Arizona, where he studies the evolution of aging.
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