Of the 11,843 deaths caused by tobacco in 2016 (10.6 percent of total deaths in the country), 9,263 were men (16.4 percent of the total who died) and 2,581 were women (4.7 percent), according to the report.
In the 50-59 male age group, tobacco was responsible for about one in four deaths whilst for women the highest mortality rate was between the ages of 45 and 49 (14.5 percent of all deaths).
In the same year, tobacco was responsible for 46.4 percent of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 19.5 percent of cancer deaths, 12 percent of deaths from lower respiratory tract infections, 5.7 percent of deaths from cerebrovascular disease and 2.4 percent of deaths from diabetes, the report said.
A Eurobarometer study, cited in the report, showed that in 2017 about one-third of smokers attempted to quit smoking at some point (35.7 percent), 6.3 percent in the last 12 months and 30.1 percent more than a year ago.
Last year, there was also an “increase in use of stop smoking consultations,”, with some 31,800 consultations given to support patients to quit smoking at national health service (SNS) hospital units (an increase of 3.5 percent compared to 2015).