Global estimates suggest that the 'tobacco epidemic' kills 5.4 million people a year and that by 2010, smoking will cause about 930,000 adult deaths each year in India.
Though a large number of developed countries are combating this habit, it is believed that by 2030, over 80 percent of the projected 8 million tobacco-related deaths are expected to be in low- and middle-income countries.
"The epidemic will strike hardest in countries whose rapidly growing economies offer their citizens the hope of a better life," Nature quoted Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organisation, as writing in 'The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008.'
Image: New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg speaking to the media at Stormont Parliament Buildings in Belfast, Northern Ireland. | Photograph: Peter Muhly/AFP/Getty Images
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