(Bangkok Post image)PARIS: Every minute, smokers get through nearly 11 million cigarettes and 10 die from the habit, experts say, in an industry that generates billions of dollars. -There are around one billion smokers in the world, about a seventh of the global population, according to World Health Organization (WHO) and other estimates. About 80% of the world's smokers live in low- and middle-income countries and 226 million of them are considered poor. (Video YouTube/CDC)Over the 20th century tobacco claimed 100 million lives -- more than the 60-80 million deaths during World War II and the 18 million in World War I combined. At current rates tobacco could account for more up to a billion deaths in the 21st century, the WHO says.

Source: Bangkok Post May 30, 2018 09:26 UTC