Almost every second Bulgarian was a cigarette smoker, a survey conducted by the National Center for Public Health Protection in October 2007 showed. The results of the survey were published on Health Ministry's website on May 30 2008, one day before the world non smoking day.

The survey showed that men smoke more than women in Bulgaria. Of the interviewed males 52.4 per cent were smokers, while the number of female smokers was 38.1 per cent.

Male regular smokers (those smoking at least one cigarette a day) were 46.6 per cent, while female regular smokers were 32.7 per cent. Occasional smokers were 5.8 per cent and 5.4 per cent respectively.

Regular smokers in towns and villages rated 39.7 per cent and 39.3 per cent respectively while occasional smokers in towns were double the number in villages- 6.4 per cent against 3.3 per cent.

The highest percentage of male regular smokers, 53.7 per cent, were aged 35-44. With women the highest percentage, 42.7 per cent, were aged 25-34.

Workers counted the highest percentage of cigarette smokers with 56.2 per cent, followed by divorced/separated people at 54.1 per cent, singles, with 51.3 per cent and the unemployed with 46.1 per cent.

More than 60 per cent of those interviewed in towns and villages started smoking between the ages 16 and 20.

A worrying 13.9 per cent had smoked for the first time at ages between 10 and 15.

More than half of the interview wanted to quit smoking, but only 16.6 per cent had received help to do that.