Smoking linked to poverty again.

From Gallup Poll

"Washington, D.C. -- The Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index is helping to crystallize the relationship between income and smoking in the United States.

Nationwide, the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index reveals that 21% of Americans say they smoke. As the accompanying graph illustrates, the likelihood of smoking generally increases as annual incomes decrease.

Interestingly, smoking rates in the United States are similar to those around the world. Across 118 different countries Gallup surveyed in 2006 and 2007, a median percentage of 22% said they smoked the day before the survey. At the high end, 50% of people in Turkey said they smoked. At the low end, 6% in Nigeria said the same."

Comment: A loose association would be to say that the richer a population the less likelihood that they will smoke cigarettes. It’s no secret that as incomes increase people will tend to eat healthier food, exercise, and abstain from harmful habits, etc. My liberal friends will say it’s due to an educated public which may be true but you have to have achieved a certain level of prosperity to be able to effectively influence the general public through rigorous education and advertisement.