PHILIPPINES

* About 60% of men smoke.
* A recent survey of Filipino adult smokers found 99.8% cited tobacco advertisements as one factor for initiating smoking.
* More than half of Filipino households are not smoke-free.
* As many as 40% of adolescents boys smoke; most began in their early teens. Another 6% were former smokers. The majority of these young smokers said peer pressure was one reason why they took up smoking. Most now wish they did not smoke and about two-thirds have tried to give up.
* There are no national laws prohibiting minors from buying cigarettes.
* About 200,000 Filipino men will develop smoking-related diseases in their productive years of age. It was estimated in 1999, that to provide healthcare for these sick men, and the loss in productivity, cost Filipino taxpayers some P43 billion.
* Every year, there are about 20,000 smoking-related deaths in the country.
* Tobacco use will drain nearly 20% of the household income of smokers' families.
* Many vendors of cigarettes are children.

(Resource: WHO)