About 24.6 million Brazilians aged 15 and up are smokers, accounting for 17.2 percent of the population in this age group, according to a study released on Friday by the Brazilian
Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).
Additionally, 26 million Brazilians or 18.2 percent of the population declared to be former smokers.
According to the IBGE, 33.9 percent of cigarette smokers consume 15 to 24 cigarettes a day, and about 51.2 percent of all smokers in the country said they want to quit the habit.
In terms of sex ratio, 21.6 percent of Brazilian men aged 15 and up smoke, while there are 13.1 percent female smokers in this age group. 22.7 percent of the smokers in the country are aged from 45 to 64 while 18.3
percent of smokers are aged from 25 to 44.
The region with the highest percentage of smokers, or 19 percent, is the south, where over 90 percent of the tobacco plantations in the country are located. The midwestern region registered the lowest percentage of smokers, or 16.6 percent.
The study also showed that most Brazilian smokers do not have much formal education. 25.7 percent of them have less than a year of formal
schooling and 23.1 percent have one to three years of schooling. Among those with over 11 years of schooling (high school education), smokers account for 11.9 percent.
Moreover, the study showed that there are more smokers among the poorer citizens. 19.9 percent of smokers are from families whose per capita income is lower than a quarter minimum wages -- 116.25 reais or 66.81 U.S. dollars.
For Brazilians with a per capita household income of over two times of minimum wages -- 930 reais or 534.48 U.S. dollars, only 13.5 percent of them are smokers.