Smoking — VietEcon

Yesterday, I talked about health preparedness, and I ended with a promise to look at the health of Vietnam currently. One of the best proxies I have for that is smoking. Mainly because it is a good indicator of rising or falling death.

In Vietnam, we have seen a slow trend down in smoking, going from above 25% back in 2000 to 22.8% in 2016. This is just a bit above the US. Almost no women smoke in Vietnam: just 1%, and that’s down from 1.8% back in 2000.

Men are the big smokers, and it turns out that smokers are more susceptible to COVID-19 cases. Plus, it may help explain why men are dying at higher rates.

On a personal note, I was a smoker for a number of years, and I definitely feel healthier than I did when I was a smoker. And of course, lung cancer caused by smoking is a major cause of death. Now COVID-19 adds another negative to smoking. I’m glad I quite a while ago.

The funny thing is that smoking in Vietnam is about in line with other SE Asian countries, once again proving my point that the health of the population, the health system of the country and the political response are all important.

I don’t have time to write more today. Will be back tomorrow.