No Smoking Day: India’s Slow Battle Against the Cigarette Habit
The second Wednesday of March is observed as No Smoking Day, a reminder of the global health challenge posed by cigarette smoking. In India, where smoking has long been embedded in habits, the numbers reveal progress and persistent concern.
India is the second largest producer and consumer of tobacco and has around 100-130 million smokers (14% of Indian adults smoke), making it one of the largest smoking populations in the world. The habit is overwhelmingly male-dominated, with Bidis (cheap & hand-rolled tobacco sticks) being more popular in comparison to cigarettes.
Even so, the sheer size of India’s billion population means that millions of women are smokers. While the numbers of use of tobacco – smoking, smokeless are usually merged, it is worth observing the rise of smoking in women aged 15+ in India. What is further concerning is that studies suggest that around 1.1% of girls aged 10–14 smoke, indicating that cigarette use begins early.
Geographically, the Northeast accounts for a higher consumption historically, but what is crucial to highlight is the new trend of the rise of women smokers in Tier 1 cities and specifically teenagers and young adults below the age of 25 who are driving smokers' numbers.
While WHO suggests that a 10% tax increase in tobacco prices results in 4% decrease in tobacco consumption in high-income countries and 5% in low-income countries, and hard-hitting pictorial health warnings prevent new users and increase the number of those who want to quit — somehow these haven’t impacted the Indian smokers as much as they should have. The reasons for this are the rise of flavoured, thin, small cigarettes, and their sale in loose form, which is accelerating India’s continued smoking habits.
Each year, more than one million deaths in India are linked to smoking-related illnesses such as lung cancer, heart disease, stroke and chronic respiratory conditions. In 2021 alone, an estimated 1,048,266 deaths were attributed to smoking, accounting for nearly 8.9 per cent of all deaths in the country. Women are not immune to the impact, with data suggesting that over 233,000 female deaths annually are linked to smoking-related diseases, representing about 4.6% of all female deaths in India.
On average, smokers in India consume about 6 cigarettes a day, with that number being 11 for Bidi smokers, though consumption may vary widely across regions. Despite public health campaigns, graphic warning labels and higher taxation on cigarettes, the fight against smoking remains far from over.
On No Smoking Day, the message is simple but urgent: every cigarette avoided is a step toward better health.
Author: AK Sharma
Designation: Independent Consultant
