Last year, about 110,000 people died in Bulgaria, nearly 15% of them, or about 17,000 people suffering from some form of cancer, show Eurostat data on mortality rates in EU countries and adverse health effects from smoking , which is a major trigger for many diseases. The analysis is made for today's May 31st, which is celebrated as a World No Tobacco Day and accentuated by tobacco damage to the lungs, BTA reports.

According to Eurostat data last year, about 3,300 people died from lung cancer, of which 2,600 were men and 700 were women. Thus, the lung cancer mortality indicator in Bulgaria is 20%,. The data is similar in another 10 European countries, with an EU average of 21% lung cancer death.

According to current NSI data in Bulgaria, active smokers are almost 40% of the men and 18% of the women, which in fact means that there are 1.3 million everyday smokers and about 680 thousand regular smokers.

The largest group of smokers is in the 25-44 years age range - 66% of men and 50% of women who belong to this group are smokers.

An especially important and up-to-date problem is the alarming increase of smokers aged between 13-16 years - 42% of girls and 31% of boys in that group smoke. The children’s age limit for to smuggle for the first time - 8-10 years. Nearly 68% of Bulgarian children have been subjected to passive smoking, which is also particularly negative for health.

According to Eurostat, there are about 1.2 billion active smokers today, or about 1/3 of the active population over the age of 15. Of these, about 800 million or nearly 70% are living in developing countries. The proportion of men who are regular smokers significantly exceeds the share of the womens - 47% vs. 15%.

It is expected that in 2030 the number of smokers in the world will exceed 1.6 billion people.