Smoking habits around the world. See the data on this map

‘Tobacco is a leading global disease risk factor’

This quote comes from The Journal of the American Medical Association which has published a report on prevalence of smoking and cigarette consumption across 187 countries.

The map, above, shows the number of cigarettes smoked daily per smoker and the smokers per thousand population.

In the map above, size of the circle represents the number of smokers per thousand population in a country. The bigger the circle, more the smokers per thousand population. The colour of the circle represents the cigarettes smoked daily per smoker. The darker the colour, higher the number of cigarettes smoked daily per smoker.

As you explore the map you will notice that the number of cigarettes smoked daily per smoker is very high in Suriname (109 cigarettes daily per smoker), the smallest country in South America. It is followed by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines (82 cigarettes daily per smoker). 

The number of smokers per thousand population is highest in Greece (312) followed by Macedonia (307) and Serbia (298) whereas, the daily consumption of cigarettes per smoker is substantially low when compared to Suriname.

We also found that women in developed countries outsmoke those in developing countries. The prevalence of female smokers in developing countries is less than one fourth of the female smokers in developed countries.

For more data driven journalism, check out Rediff Labs.