By Vineeta Pandey
New Delhi, Oct 20 : Young Indians (between 20-34 years) pick up their first cigarette or bidi at 17.8 years and two in five tobacco-users in this group start smoking daily before they turn 18. Interestingly, almost 26% women start using tobacco before they turn 15, a health ministry survey said.
The Global Adult Tobacco Survey (Gats) conducted by Mumbai-based International Institute of Population Sciences for the government also found that bidi smokers outnumber cigarette smokers in the country. This is because bidis are cheaper. So, if an urban cigarette-smoker incurs a monthly expenditure of Rs469, a bidi smoker has to shell out Rs92.50.
On an average, a cigarette-smoker burns up 6.2 sticks per day, while a bidi smoker burns up 11.6 sticks. About one-fourth of cigarette-smokers need more than 10 sticks per day, while more than half of bidi smokers use up more than 10 bidis per day.
Monthly expenditure on cigarettes is highest in Arunachal (Rs1,264.90) and lowest in Jharkhand (Rs181.70). The monthly expenditure on bidis is lowest in Bihar (Rs42.70) and highest in Rajasthan (Rs147.80).
The survey found that more than one-third (35%) of adults in India use tobacco in some form or the other. Among them, 21% use only smokeless tobacco, 9% only smoke and 5% smoke and chew tobacco. Around 48% of men and 20.3% of women use tobacco in more than one form. Smoking is not very popular among women (only 3% do so) compared to 24.3% men.
However, other tobacco products are a hit with 18% of women and 33 % men.
More than 75% of people addicted to tobacco products use it daily. Among daily tobacco users, 60.2% smoked tobacco within half-an-hour of waking up. This was in various forms like cigarette, bidi, gutka, khaini etc. Among minors (age 15-17), 9.6% consumed tobacco in some form. Around 52.3% adults were exposed to second-hand smoke at home and 29% at public places (in public transport and restaurants).
Tobacco use was found to be highest in Mizoram (67%) and lowest in Goa (9%). Interestingly, in Tamil Nadu, Puducherry, Meghalaya, Tripura and Mizoram, tobacco was more used by women than men.
The Gats survey was carried out in urban and rural areas of 29 states and union territories. A total of 69,296 adults aged 15 and above were polled. Of these, 33,767 were men and 35,529 were women.
image courtesy : Flickr
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