The Toll of Tobacco in Vietnam

Consumption

• 22.5% of Vietnamese adults (age 15+) currently smoke tobacco products (men 45.3%; women 1.1%).¹
  
  • 18.2% of all adults smoke cigarettes
  • 6.7% smoke waterpipes (men 13.7%; women 0.2%)
• 2.3% of youth (ages 13–15) currently smoke cigarettes (boys 3.6%; girls 1.2%).²

Secondhand Smoke Exposure

• 42.6% of adults are exposed to secondhand smoke in indoor workplaces, 80.7% in restaurants and bars, and 19.4% are exposed on public transport.¹
• 71.2% of youth (ages 13–15) are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places and 58.5% of youth are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.³

Health Consequences

• At least 75,000 Vietnamese die each year from smoking-related causes.⁴
• Nearly 20% of all male deaths and 8% of adult female deaths are due to tobacco smoking.⁴

Tobacco Industry

The Vietnam National Tobacco Corporation, a government owned tobacco company, holds more than half (55%) of the cigarette market share. International tobacco companies hold most of the remaining cigarette market share in Vietnam. In 2015, British American Tobacco led with 26.5% of market share, followed by Philip Morris International (7%), Imperial Tobacco (7%), and Japan Tobacco (1.5%). In Vietnam, nearly 74 billion cigarettes were sold in 2015.⁵

FCTC Status

Vietnam ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on December 17, 2004. The treaty went into effect on March 17, 2005.

Tobacco Control Policy Status

For a summary of smoke-free, advertising and promotion, packaging and labeling, and taxation and price measures, download the Vietnam Tobacco Control Policy Status fact sheet. For more information visit the Tobacco Control Laws website.

¹ Viet Nam Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS). World Health Organization; 2015.
²Global School-based Student Health Survey (GSHS): Viet Nam. World Health Organization; 2013. Available from: www.who.int/chp/gshs/2013_Viet_Nam_Fact_Sheet.pdf.
³ Viet Nam Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). National, 2007. Available from: nccd.cdc.gov/GTSSData/default/default.aspx.
⁴Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2013. Seattle, WA: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington;2015. Available from: vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/.
⁵Euromonitor International; 2016.

Last updated Jan. 2017