The report, “Portugal – Prevention and Control of Smoking in Numbers 2015”, from the General Health Department, atates that the latest numbers about deaths related with tobacco show that smoking was the number one cause of death in Portugal for both sexes and was responsible for about 11 percent of all deaths.
Almost half of the smoking related deaths were caused by cancers and respiratory diseases.
The report also showed that one in five of the deaths of people aged between 45 and 64, was due to tobacco.
The report also pointed towards an estimated 400 deaths a year due to passive smoking, but did note that this kind of mortality “has seen a significant reduction in past years”.
Even so, in 2014, 8.6 percent of the population aged over 15 was exposed to cigarette smoke on a daily basis, mainly in leisure establishments (38.3 percent), at home (31 percent) and at work (20.5 percent).
There was also a slight reduction in overall tobacco consumption in consumers over 15 between 2005/2006 and 2014.