Saudis spend SR23m on cigarettes per day

Saudis spend an average SR23 million (Dh22.5m) on cigarettes every day and nearly 23,000 smokers in the Gulf kingdom die every year.

Figures by the Saudi Naqaa Association for Combating Smoking showed around six million people in the world’s largest oil exporter are smokers and women account for nearly five per cent of them.

“An average 23,000 people die of smoking in Saudi Arabia every year  and nearly 30 per cent of them are aged between 13-15 years. Nearly SR23m is also spent on cigarettes in the Kingdom every day,” the Association’s chairman Ahmed Al Buali said, quoted by the Arabic language daily Al Ihsa.

Saudi Arabia, the largest Arab economy, has a population of around 29 million, including nearly eight million foreigners.
 

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