Tobacco Consumption
- 31.6% of Turkish adults (age 15+) currently smoke tobacco.1
- 44.1% of men and 19.2% of women smoke.
- Among youth (age 13-15),2 17.9% currently smoke tobacco (boys 23.2%; girls 12.1%), 7.7% smoke cigarettes (boys 9.9%; girls 5.3%), and 12.8% smoke other tobacco products (boys 17.3%; girls 8%)
Secondhand Smoke Exposure
- 10.6% of adults (age 15+) who worked indoors were exposed to tobacco smoke at the workplace, 12.7% were exposed in restaurants, and 28% in cafes.1
- 51.8% of youth (age 13-15) are exposed to secondhand smoke in enclosed public places and 46.1% are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.2
Health Consequences
- Nearly 85,000 Turks die each year from smoking-related diseases.3
- 29.2% of male deaths and 8.2% of female deaths are due to tobacco smoke in Turkey (21.1% overall).3
- One in five deaths from cardiovascular diseases in Turkey are attributable to tobacco, as well as half of all deaths from chronic respiratory diseases and over three quarters of deaths from tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancers.3
Tobacco Industry
International tobacco companies dominate the cigarette market in Turkey. In 2018, Philip Morris International held 43.6% of the cigarette market by volume, followed by British American Tobacco with 23.3%, Japan Tobacco Inc with 18%, domestic company European Tobacco with 2.4%, and Imperial Tobacco Group with 2.1%. About 118.5 billion cigarettes were sold in Turkey in 2018.4
FCTC Status
Turkey ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on December 31, 2004. The treaty went into effect on March 31, 2005.
Tobacco Control Policy Status
For a summary of smoke-free, advertising and promotion, packaging and labeling, and taxation and price measures, download the Turkey Tobacco Control Policy Status fact sheet. For more information visit the Tobacco Control Laws website.
1 Turkey Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016.
2 Turkey Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2017.
3 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017. Seattle, WA: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington;2020.
4 Euromonitor International 2019.
Last updated August 5, 2020