6.49 PM Thursday, 28 March 2024
  • City Fajr Shuruq Duhr Asr Magrib Isha
  • Dubai 04:57 06:11 12:27 15:53 18:37 19:51
28 March 2024

Saudi has 1.1million women smokers

Published
By Staff

Nearly 1.1 million women in Saudi Arabia are smokers but the number if dwarfed by male smokers who are estimated at six million, according to a local study.

Total consumption of tobacco in the world’s dominant oil power and largest Arab economy exceeded 40,000 tonnes last year, with a value of nearly SR12 billion ($3.2 billion), showed the study by the Khair anti-smoking association, a private company based in the western town of Makkah.

It showed school students account for nearly 15-27 per cent of total smokers in Saudi Arabia, which has the 29th highest smoking rate in the world.

“Average individual tobacco consumption in Saudi Arabia is estimated at 2,130 cigarettes a year…there are nearly 1.1 million smoking women and six million smoking men, one of the highest rates in the world.”

In mid-2010, Saudi Arabia had a population of around 27.1 million, including nearly 19 million Saudis.