Research published by the medical journal, The Lancet, has revealed that one in three of young men in China is likely to die from tobacco, cited a report by the Associated Press.
Based on the joint studies conducted by researchers from Oxford University, the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and the Chinese Center for Disease Control, two-thirds of the young men in China start to smoke before age 20, and half of them will eventually die from tobacco-related diseases unless they stop smoking permanently.
The research was part of two studies done 15 years apart and involved hundreds of thousands of people. According to the research, if current trends continue, the number of tobacco deaths among men will likely reach 1 million by 2010 and 2 million by 2030.
Researchers, however, said that the trends could change if the smokers quit.
"The key to avoid this huge wave of deaths is cessation, and if you are a young man, don't start," co-author Richard Peto, from the University of Oxford, was quoted as saying.
The report cited data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention which showed that smoking rates among men in developed countries have dropped significantly. In the United States where about 20 percent of adult men and 15 percent of women smoke, cigarette smoking causes about one of every five deaths, according to the agency.
The report said that the percentage of smokers in China has been on the rise in recent decades as cigarettes have become easily available. More Chinese also start to smoke at younger ages, which researchers said could increase the risk of death attributed to smoking.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), tobacco accounts for more than 5 million deaths annually around the world.
The report added that Beijing's efforts to control tobacco in the past has been compromised as tobacco is considered an important source of revenue by the Chinese government.
In addition, the culture of smoking has been so ingrained in many people in China and they find it difficult to curb the habit.