Between 30,000 and 40,000 people in Vietnam die of diseases caused by smoking each year, according to local newspaper Youth on Monday.
Some 56 percent of local men aged 15 upwards are cigarette smokers, the newspaper quoted the Vietnam Tobacco Control Program as reporting.
In recent years, smokers in Vietnam have spent over 8.2 trillion Vietnamese dong (512.5 million U.S. dollars) on smoking, said the program's secretary, Phan Thi Hai.
According to statistics released by the Vietnamese Health Ministry in late 2005, over 50 percent of local men and around 3 percent of local women smoke.
Vietnam, with a population of some 84 million, is trying to reduce the number of smokers by imposing higher taxes on tobacco products, restricting investment in cigarette production, and raising public awareness about the harm of smoking.
Source: Xinhua
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