Two out of three smokers, or about 1.8 million Australians, will die because of their habit, the first large-scale Australian study on the link between smoking and mortality shows.
The study, published in the international journal BMC Medicine, found the smoking "epidemic" reduced a smoker's life expectancy by 10 years on average.
Scientists from the Sax Institute in Sydney and the University of Melbourne followed 200,000 smokers over the age of 45.
Professor Emily Banks, the lead author of the study, said smoking was a "very, very powerful addiction" and she hoped the findings would give people the information they needed to really consider whether they should continue to smoke.
Smoking statistics
- 200,000 smokers over 45 surveyed
- 2.7 million smokers in Australia
- 1.8 million of them will die from their habit
- Smoking reduces life expectancy by 10 years
- Smoking ten cigarettes a day doubles the risk of death
- Smoking 25 cigarettes a day increases risk of death by four to fivefold
"Even though we've been incredibly successful at tobacco control in Australia we still have 2.7 million smokers," Professor Banks said.
"And 1.8 million of those smokers will die from their habit if they don't quit."
The three main conditions that kill smokers are cardiovascular disease, cancer and chronic lung disease.
Professor Banks said those who smoked 10 cigarettes a day doubled their risk of death and that figure was much higher for heavy smokers.
"People who were smoking 25 or more cigarettes a day [had] up to a four to fivefold increase in their risk of dying," she said.
A number of people quit smoking during the course of the study and Professor Banks said the increase in risk was "actually an underestimate".
"In a way this two-thirds figure actually tips the balance," she said.
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