The Prevalence of Smoking among Karbala/Iraq University Students in Iraq in 2005

Tobacco use is considered one of the largest public health threats facing the world. The estimated number of current smokers in the world exceeds 1.3 billion, which means that one third of the world's population above 15 years are smokers. Smoking prevalence is increasing in the developing world but monitoring of this trend is poor in these countries. Studies on smoking in Iraq are scarce, with the current smoking prevalence rate reported to be 15-25% for males and 1-10% for females in surveys conducted in the past ten years.