Turks smoke a lot! This is a known fact all around the world; for example, there is even a saying in Italian “smoking like a Turk”, or some jokes such as “Who smokes more than a Turk?” and the answer is “Two Turks!”. Unfortunately, this bad habit of smoking cigarettes or water pipes is very popular amongst young people too.
According to WHO (World Health Organization), 30% of men and 12% of women in Turkey smoke tobacco products. A report from OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) in 2015 mentions that Turkey is the 11th country in the world for tobacco smoking figures, with an average of 24% of its population. TUIK (Turkish Statistical Institute) states in their report of 2016 that 26,5% of population over 15 years of age in Turkey smokes. Another report by WHO in 2018 shows the brutal face of smoking; 31% of the deceased men in Turkey die because of tobacco, which equals to over 83 thousand people every year! This makes Turkey the second highest country in deaths related to tobacco smoking in the world, after North Korea. It’s true that after the Law #4733 published in 2002 which bans the smoking of tobacco products indoors and in public buildings reduced these deaths in some ways, but each year younger people start to smoke hence the death figures related to lung cancer or other tobacco-related illnesses are growing.
