According to received estimates nobody smokes like Eastern Europe, where the annual smoking rate can surpass 2000 cigarettes per person. The highest rate was registered in Serbia (approximately 2,861 cigarettes per person), according to findings collected from 71 countries, by the World Lung Foundation. The fourth place is occupied by Russia, with 2,786 cigarettes per person, who is currently fighting with its smoking problems. The advised new regulations in Russia are made in conformity with the laws in Western countries and would restrict tobacco advertising and public cigarette use in Russia, and also increase excise taxes on cigarettes. The findings show that this problem costs Russia about $48.1 billion every year.

The highest rates are registered in Eastern Europe, except Romania, which had previously similar unpleasant numbers until it passed a severe anti-smoking law in 1997. The main chain smokers outside Eastern Europe live in Kazakhstan, South Korea and Japan.China’s smoking rate is still dragging behind Korea and Japan (1,711 cigarettes per person in China, 1,958 in Korea and 1,841 in Japan), however China is the globe’s giant overall user of tobacco products. It is a well known fact, that with the development and urbanization of a country its diverse rankings are increasing.

A 1999 research of Russian smoking habits demonstrated a direct correlation between cigarette and alcohol use rates and a direct correlation between smoking and exposure to the so called “Western influences,” as Western cigarette manufacturers advertising their products as a symbol of a “true and fashionable Western lifestyle.”

Americans occupy a middle position. The U.S. is ranked 35th in the received data, with approximately a thousand cigarettes used per year by a person.

Is about less developed countries, they are considered healthier in comparison to others. South Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa demonstrated the lowest smoking rates in the world. For instance, an Indian lights up about 95 cigarettes per year. Ethiopian smokers light up just 45 cigarettes. If Americans were smoking these lower amounts of cigarettes, cigarette giants would loose their businesses overnight, and health care cost would fall significantly as well. At present United States receives $96 billion annually for the direct health-care costs related to smoking.