Smoking And Health Statistics In Your World 
Student Notes
Teachers Notes
The Problem
 
The Habit
 

Smoking

The Problem
Why do people smoke?
Are people snioking more than they were?
Are more people smoking?

There are many different reasons given for starting to smoke.

  1. Write down four 'reasons' for starting to smoke.
  2. Do you think smoking may be harmful? Why?

In this unit we are going to look at connections between smoking and certain diseases.

Here are reasons some people gave for continuing to smoke.

'My grandad smoked 40 a day for 60 years and lived till he was 87.'
'I might get knocked down by a bus tomorrow.'
'If smoking is bad for you, why do so many doctors smoke?'
'They haven't really proved that smoking causes lung cancer.'

  1. Discuss these reasons. Do they make sense?

 

The Habit
You will need page R1.
Table 1 shows the average number of manufactured cigarettes smoked per person per day (men and women) over a period of 35 years.

Year Men Women   Year Men Women
1930 7.6 0.5   1953 10.1 3.3
1931 7.6 0.6   1954 10.2 3.5
1932 7.5 0.6   1955 10.5 3.7
1933 7.7 0.7   1956 10.2 3.9
1934 7.8 0.7   1957 10.4 4.2
1935 8.2 0.9   1958 10.5 4.2
1936 8.8 1.0   1959 10.7 4.3
1937 9.2 1.1   1960 11.0 4.4
1938 9.6 1.2   1961 11.0 4.6
1939 9.9 1.4   1962 10.2 4.7
1940 10.1 1.6   1963 10.4 5.1
1941 10.7 2.2   1964 10.3 5.0
1942 11.0 2.5   1965 9.8 5.1
1943 10.8 2.8   1966 10.1 5.6
1944 11.0 3.0   1967 10.3 5.5
1945 12.1 3.4   1968 10.6 5.6
1946 11.7 3.1   1969 10.4 6.1
1947 10.1 2.8   1970 10.7 6.2
1948 9.6 2.5   1971 10.1 5.9
1949 9.1 2.8   1972 10.8 6.3
1950 9.2 3.0   1973 10.9 7.0
1951 9.9 3.1   1974 10.5 7.2
1952 10.0 3.2   1975 10.2 6.8

(Source: Statistics of Smoking in the U.K., Tobacco Research Council)
Table 1 - Cigarette consumption from 1930-1975.

The figures for men from Table 1 are plotted on page R1.

  1. Plot the figures for women on the same graph.
  2. In which year did the average number of cigarettes smoked by men first reach more than 10 per person per day?
  3. In which year did the average number of cigarettes smoked by women first reach three per person per day?
  4. Compare the smoking habits of men and women up to 1955. Can you think of an explanation for the peaks in the graphs?
  5. Describe the trends in cigarette smoking over the years 1930 to 1975. How does the pattern for men differ from that for women?
  6. *In 1975 47% of all men smoked manufactured cigarettes. What was the average number of cigarettes smoked a day by a male cigarette smoker in 1975? (Table 1 gives the average for all men, including non-smokers.)
  7. *In 1975 43% of all women smoked manufactured cigarettes. What was the average number of cigarettes smoked a day by a female smoker?

 

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