Low-Income Earners More Likely to Smoke

Poorer people are more likely to smoke heavily, statistics published Monday show. A team led by Kang Young-ho at Seoul National University analyzed data collected from 1.59 million people across the nation from 2008 to 2014.

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The team divided people by income and region and found that almost all areas -- 96.3 percent for men and 97.5 percent for women -- showed higher rates of smoking among those with low incomes.

At the same time there was no part of the nation where smoking rates were higher among the top 20 percent of the income bracket than among the lowest.

"This shows that low-income earners face a greater risk of dying from smoking-related illnesses", Kang said. "We need to use this data to come up with new public health policies".