Teen Girls Worldwide are Lighting Up

Around the world, teenage girls are smoking cigarettes at about the same rate as boys, Bloomberg News reported!

May 30, 2006

A report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that about 1 in 5 youths ages 13-15 said they smoked or used other types of tobacco. Use rates were about the same for males and females, a troubling trend since past reports have shown that adult men smoked more than women.

The CDC conducted the Global Youth Tobacco Survey along with the World Health Organization and the Canadian Public Health Association. The study included almost 750,000 students in 132 countries and the Gaza Strip/West Bank.

Women Smoking More Worldwide, Report Says

More women are smoking worldwide even as male smoking rates decrease, according to a report by the International Network of Women Against Tobacco, the Associated Press reported on July 13.

Twelve percent of women worldwide smoke, and by 2025, that number may rise to 20 percent, the report states. By contrast, 48 percent of men smoke, but that rate is expected to decline.

The report, which used data from the World Health Organization, was released last week at an American Cancer Society conference.

Tobacco company marketing targeting women in developing countries may be the source of the rising figures, the report speculates. Ads featuring attractive, modern women on billboards 'change cultural beliefs about women and smoking,' the report says.

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