Brussels (Brussels Morning) – Belgium’s annual smoking-related deaths reach over 9,000, with men disproportionately affected. Sciensano’s study shows inequalities between regions and genders, urging targeted campaigns for lower socio-economic groups to combat tobacco mortality.
Every year in Belgium, more than 9,000 people die from the effects of smoking, which equates to one person per hour. This is evident from a study that Sciensano published. There is a striking difference in the number of deaths between men and women.
How Many Die Annually from Smoking Effects?
In the context of the Belgian national burden of disease study, Sciensano has calculated how many people die annually from the consequences of smoking. In Belgium, there has been a decrease in the number of people dying from the consequences of smoking. In 2013, 12,851 people died from the consequences, in 2020 this was still 9,413.
What Gender Disparities Exist in Smoking Mortality?
An important finding is that there is a large inequality between the sexes. For example, 75 per cent of deaths are men. People in Brussels and Wallonia also have a 50 per cent higher risk of tobacco mortality than Flemish people. In Flanders, ‘only’ 66 people died per 100,000 inhabitants, while this number was 105 in Wallonia and 115 in the Brussels-Capital Region.
“Men generally smoke more than women, which means the mortality rate is also higher,” explains Brecht Devleesschauwer, head of Sciensano’s Health Information Service. “The inequality between the regions is partly because certain socio-economic groups smoke more. We see that people with a high income and higher education smoke less than before.”
How Can Belgium Address its Smoking Mortality Challenge?
According to Devleesschauwer, tackling this problem can be done by conducting more targeted campaigns for people from a lower socio-economic group. Out of a group of 14 EU countries, Belgium is in the top five in the number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants: only Greece, Denmark, the Netherlands and Germany are ahead of us.
What are the Leading Causes of Smoking-Related Deaths?
The leading causes of death from smoking are lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease. Respectively, the diseases were responsible for 3,682, 1,422 and 1,305 deaths in 2020.
