Health · Public Health & Disease · 3 hrs ago
Turkey’s health minister says 30% of 13- to 17-year-olds smoke
Turkey’s Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu says smoking is a major public health problem.
He told a parliamentary association programme that a recent Turkish statistics agency survey counted 7.5 million people aged 13 to 17.
Around 2.5 million of them smoke, equal to 30% of that age group, he said.
Memişoğlu also said the average age when people in Turkey start smoking is 17.
He listed tobacco use alongside obesity, drug use, behavioural addictions and low fertility as five priority health problems for Turkey.
The figures point to widespread smoking among teenagers, but no specific new tobacco measure was announced in his remarks.
He also discussed wider health initiatives, including early cancer diagnosis through family doctors and plans to expand a home and remote care system piloted in Kayseri and İzmir.
Turkey’s health minister said 30% of people aged 13 to 17 smoke.
Kemal Memişoğlu said 2.5 million of the 7.5 million people in that age group use cigarettes.
He said the average age at which people in Turkey start smoking is 17.
Memişoğlu described tobacco use as a major public health problem.
He cited a recent Turkish Statistical Institute survey as the source of the figures.
- Who
- Health Minister Kemal Memişoğlu.
- What
- He said 30% of 13- to 17-year-olds in Turkey smoke.
- When
- Not stated
- Where
- Turkey.
- Why
- He described tobacco use as a major public health problem.
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- Age group
- 13 to 17
- Share who smoke
- 30%
- Number who smoke
- 2.5 million
- Population aged 13 to 17
- 7.5 million
- Average age smoking starts
- 17
What people are saying
2.5 million of this population of 7.5 million smoke. That is, 30 percent of the population aged 13 to 17 smoke.
The average age at which people in Turkey start smoking is 17, so we are facing a dramatic problem.