Tobacco smoking in Europe is becoming increasingly concentrated in lower socio-economic groups, according to new research on health inequalities.
The EU Help campaign, which is promoting anti-smoking efforts in all member states, says studies throughout Europe point to the same pattern of tobacco use among the poor.
A study in Finland published last year suggested that men from a lower educational background were 1.5 times more likely to smoke than men with higher levels of education.
The latest figures from the Office of Tobacco Control indicate that 57 per cent of smokers in the Republic come from the skilled working class and unskilled/unemployed social groupings.
Some 25 per cent come from the lower middle class, while less than 10 per cent come from the middle class and upper middle class, according to figures from October last.
Prof Luke Clancy, chairman of Ash Ireland, said Irish and EU research showed a direct correlation between tobacco use and poverty.
"Men from lower socio-economic groups have a much higher risk of dying from smoking-related diseases than men from upper groups."
He urged young people not to begin smoking over Christmas, pointing out that adolescents from lower socio-economic groups were most at risk.
"At the age of 15, there is not much difference in prevalence rates across social categories. But then people from lower groups leave school and get money, and then start smoking, and they will be encouraged in this regard from the last two budgets, which made no change to the price of the cigarettes," said Prof Clancy.
