Turkey ranks fifth in cigarette consumption

ANKARA - Anatolia News Agency

Greeks smoke the most, according to an OECD report, while Turks take fifth place. Hürriyet photo

Greeks smoke the most and Turks come in fifth among the 34 OECD countries, according to the 2011-2012 OECD report, which analyzes economic, environmental and social statistics.

The report, which claims that cigarettes and alcohol are harming human health more with each passing day, noted that cigarette and alcohol consumption have decreased by 20 percent from a year earlier in terms of per capita population on a country by country basis. Greece took the first spot for cigarette smoking, followed by Russia, Chile, Ireland and Turkey. The countries which consumed the least cigarettes were India, Mexico, South Africa, Sweden and Brazil.

Men also smoke more than women, but Chinese women smoke the most compared with women in other countries. Interestingly, while Greece took the lead in cigarette consumption overall, on a gender basis, Greek women smoke the least compared with women in other countries. Among men, Swedish men took the lead for cigarette consumption, while Russian men came in last. In Ireland, Norway and England, the distribution of male and female smokers was equal.

France was first in alcohol consumption. Portugal and Austria shared the second-place spot, the Czech Republic came in third, Estonia fourth and Luxembourg fifth. The countries consuming the least alcohol were Indonesia and India with Turkey in third place, followed by Israel and China.