A growing cloud over the planet: smoking is declining in the West, but it's on the rise in countries like China and India.Nearly half of the world's 1.3 billion smokers live in China, India India, officially Republic of India, republic (2005 est pop. 1,080,264,000), 1,261,810 sq mi (3,268,090 sq km), S Asia. The second most populous country in the world, it is also sometimes called Bharat, its ancient name. India's land frontier (c. , and Indonesia Indonesia (ĭn'dənē`zhə), officially Republic of Indonesia, republic (2005 est. pop. 241,974,000), c.735,000 sq mi (1,903,650 sq km), SE Asia, in the Malay Archipelago. , the three largest consumers of tobacco products. In China alone, more people smoke than live in the United States United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . Those three countries and others in the developing world represent promising markets for tobacco companies, which are trying to win over existing smokers and, according to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. a new report by the World Health Organization (W.H.O.), convince more women and teenagers to light up. Smoking has declined slowly in the West. But over the last four decades, the number of smokers has grown steadily in the developing world. In fact, during that time, the respective shares of global cigarette consumption between rich and poor nations flipped Flipped (2002) is a young adult novel by Wendelin Van Draanen. It is a stand-alone teen romance in a he-said she-said style with the two protagonists alternately presenting their perspective on a shared set of events. (see graph, near right). Tobacco products are already responsible for about 5.4 million deaths a year from lung cancer lung cancer, cancer that originates in the tissues of the lungs. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the United States in both men and women. Like other cancers, lung cancer occurs after repeated insults to the genetic material of the cell. , heart disease, and other illnesses, according to the W.H.O. If trends continue, that number will rise to more than 8 million annually by 2030, the agency estimated, with 80 percent of those deaths in the developing world (see graph, far right). The eventual toll from tobacco products could be a billion deaths in this century--10 times the 100 million smoking-related deaths that occurred in the 20th century. [GRAPHIC OMITTED]
Percentage of adult population that smokes in ...
China India Indonesia U.S.
Male 60% 33% 68% 24%
Female 4% 5% 5% 18%
SOURCE: UNITED NATIONS (ADULTS DEFINED AS AGE 15 AND OLDER.)
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