Lighting Up

   I have always been amazed at how many people here in Indonesia smoke.  Almost all of my friends smoke.  Coming across an Indonesian male that does not smoke is unusual and generally leads to some interesting story of how he kicked the habit or the reasons why he chooses not to smoke.

   I recently came across a TIME article that included some interesting statistics.  The article reports that Indonesia has the highest percentage of smokers in the world... Here's some snippets:

Is it getting hard to breathe in here?
According to a new survey, Indonesian men smoke more than anyone else in the world. Nearly 70% of of all Indonesian males over age 15 light up cigarettes, a slight increase from 67% last year and a big jump from roughly 54% in 1995. Meanwhile, the overall rate of tobacco use among Indonesia’s adult population hit 35% — right behind Russia, which has the world’s highest overall smoking rate of 39%.

Cigarettes are relatively cheap in Indonesia, and tobacco taxes run less than 40%, according to the Associated Press — about average for the region. Thanks to the powerful tobacco lobby, giant outdoor cigarette advertisements — banned in many other countries — still remain prevalent throughout Indonesia. The Southeast Asian nation, also the world’s fifth-largest cigarette-producing market, is among a handful of countries that have failed to sign the World Health Organization’s 2005 tobacco treaty.