Facts About Smoking Declines
05/22/00
Facts and figures about the global decline in smoking from the U.S. government, international agencies and Worldwatch:
-U.S. cigarette production dropped from 2,810 cigarettes per person annually a decade ago to 1,633 last year.
-World production dropped from its peak of 1,027 per capita in 1990 to a 34-year low of 915 per person last year.
-Smoking has dropped 19 percent in France since peaking in 1985, 8 percent in China since 1990 and 4 percent in Japan since 1992.
-U.S. cigarette exports have been steadily declining since they reached a record 243 billion cigarettes in 1996. For 1997, it was 217 billion, for 1998 it was 201.3 billion, and for 1999 it was 151.4 billion.
-Exports of unmanufactured U.S. tobacco declined from 211,916 metric tons in 1998 to 189,379 metric tons last year.
-U.S. tobacco leaf production for 1999 was 14 percent less than a year earlier. Total tobacco acreage fell 9.6 percent from a year earlier, and the average yield for all tobacco fell about 100 pounds per acre.
-The average U.S. retail price for a pack of cigarettes rose from $1.31 in January 1998 to $2.35 in January 2000.
-The World Health Organization estimates that 10 million people will die annually from diseases linked to smoking by 2020, compared to 4 million today.
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