Pakistan’s annual death toll from smoking is the highest in South Asia and higher than the global average, according to Gallup Pakistan’s analysis of the Global Burden of Disease 2024 report.
According to the Global Burden of Disease 2024, Pakistan recorded an annual mortality rate from smoking of 91.1 per 100,000 people, notably higher than the averages in South Asia (78.1) and the rest of the world (72.6). , according to Gallup Pakistan, which is not affiliated with Gallup, the multinational analytics and advisory firm based in Washington, DC.
“Between 1990 and 2021, Pakistan experienced a 35 percent relative decline in smoking-related mortality rates, which is less than the reductions achieved by India (37 percent), South Asia (38 percent) and the world average (42 percent),” Gallup Pakistan said in a report released on Tuesday.
According to the World Health Organization, buying 100 packs of Pakistan’s top-selling cigarette brand requires 3.7% of GDP per capita. This figure is considerably lower than India’s 9.8 percent and Bangladesh’s 4.2 percent, he went on to say.
“From 2012 to 2022, the proportion of GDP per capita needed to buy 100 packs in Pakistan increased by 38 percent, reflecting rising cigarette prices.
According to a Gallup Pakistan opinion poll conducted in 2022, an overwhelming 80 percent of smokers expressed their desire to quit smoking.
In November, the Provincial Alliance for Sustainable Tobacco Control urged the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Health Department to quickly enact the long-awaited KP “Tobacco Prohibition and Health Protection of Non-Smokers Bill.” The bill has been pending since the Law Department reviewed it in 2016.
In June, a study found secondhand smoke was present in an alarming 95 percent of children in Pakistan and Bangladesh, putting them at higher risk of respiratory tract infections and, in cases of babies with inherited disorders, death. .
