In Bulgaria, smoking was one of the causes of approximately 18% of all deaths.

This was announced by the press service of the Ministry of Health, citing data from the country's Health Profile for 2021. In our country, 34.5% of the population over the age of 20 are daily smokers, according to preliminary data from a 2020 national survey of health risk factors.

The study was conducted by the National Center for Public Health and Analysis.

The results of the research show that 26.3% of the respondents have tried smoking cigarettes, with a slight preponderance of girls (26.8%) over boys (25.6%).

Almost every fifth child is a current smoker – smoked one or more days in the last month, with the relative share of girls being slightly higher compared to the share of boys (17.3% vs. 16.4%).

The distribution by age group shows that smoking is much more common among 15-19 year olds (31.4%) than among 10-14 year olds (4.0%).

Girls predominate among smokers in both age groups, albeit slightly.

According to the World Health Organization, smoking kills one person every four seconds worldwide.

More than seven million of these deaths result from direct tobacco use, while about 1.2 million occur in nonsmokers exposed to secondhand smoke.

Tobacco use is directly linked to cardiovascular disease, cancer, chronic respiratory disease and diabetes.

Research: Smoking and alcohol are leading causes of cancer in the world

After November 20, 2022, the Ministry of Health will announce on its website the finalists in the 14th edition of the National Student Competition "Ambassadors of Health", which is held in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Environment and Water , the Ministry of Youth and Sports, the Ministry of Culture, the Office of the World Health Organization for Bulgaria, the Bulgarian Youth Red Cross and the National Center for Public Health and Analysis.

Today is International No Tobacco Day.

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