Smoking: The killer facts

MPs will have a free vote today on banning smoking in pubs and restaurants. One-quarter of adults in the UK smoke, down from half 30 years ago.Smoking costs the NHS almost £2bn a year. For the long-term smoker, life expectancy is 8 to 12 years less than a non-smoker. A survey of 3,000 people last year found that 71 per cent were in favour of a total smoking ban

MPs will have a free vote today on banning smoking in pubs and restaurants.

One-quarter of adults in the UK smoke, down from half 30 years ago.

Smokers puff their way through 77 billion cigarettes annually.

Almost one-third of girls aged 15 and 16 smoke.

People in the 20 to 24 age group smoke the most - 38 per cent of men and 34 per cent of women.

The Government says a ban would encourage 700,000 smokers to quit in the first year.

Britain has the highest tobacco taxes in the EU, with £3.84 in every £4.80 pack of cigarettes going to the Treasury.

These duties total £9.5bn annually.

Three of the world's five biggest tobacco firms are British and make £2.9bn in pre-tax profits.

Every year, 100,000 people die because of smoking: 33,000 of them from lung cancer.

Smoking costs the NHS almost £2bn a year.

For the long-term smoker, life expectancy is 8 to 12 years less than a non-smoker.

Exposure to passive smoke increases the risk to a non-smoker of heart disease and lung cancer by 25 per cent, according to one study.

Another study finds the passive smoking link unproven.

Ireland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Malta and New Zealand have so far introduced a ban.

A publicans' group says that a ban could mean losses of £3.5bn for the industry and cost 75,000 jobs.

Of those who go to pubs, 46 per cent are smokers.

A survey of 3,000 people last year found that 71 per cent were in favour of a total smoking ban