Tobacco.org

• Tobacco use among women on the rise 

More and more girls and women in Pakistan are turning to tobacco use, this being a clear sign of the closing gender gap as smoking among girls is constantly increasing as a result of changing social norms and the tobacco industry’s targeting of young women.

There are an estimated 25 million smokers in Pakistan, with the male to female ratio being 4:1. This means that 36% of the adult males and 9% of the adult females in Pakistan are tobacco users. However, the Global Youth Tobacco Survey conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) has found that the boy to girl tobacco use ratio has shrunk to 2:1. This evidence of the closing gender gap in terms of tobacco use is true for both rural as well as urban women.

Lately, the WHO has drawn attention to the need for a gendered response to tobacco use and is calling for specific programmes and policies to curb smoking, in all its forms, among young girls and women.

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