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Tobacco-related deaths are expected to double to 10 million a year by 2030, with most fatalities in developing countries, says a senior World Lung Foundation (WLF) official.
Judith Longstaff Mackay, a senior policy adviser to the World Health Organisation, said cigarette markets were shrinking in advanced economies, but growing in developing states.
"There's about three million TB [tuberculosis] deaths a year, and five million deaths a year from tobacco," said Mackay. "By 2030, that will be closer to 10 million, they'll be doubling... and the major burden is on developing countries."
Smoking is a major cause of cancer of the lung, throat and bladder. Despite proof of the health risks, Mackay said more people were lighting up worldwide, with 1.64 billion smokers expected by 2030, from 1.3 billion today.
The American Cancer Society labels China a "ticking time bomb" with about 320 million smokers.
According to the 2006 edition of The Tobacco Atlas, published by the society, the four countries with the highest number of male smokers (who are the majority of the world's smokers) were China, Yemen, Djibouti and Cambodia.
