What percent of smokers get lung cancer?

Smoking and Lung Cancer. Most statistics look at the overall risk of lung cancer, combining both people who smoke and those who have never smoked. Based on United States statistics, the lifetime risk that a person will develop lung cancer is 6.4 percent or a little greater than one out of every 15 people. read more

Surprisingly, fewer than 10 percent of lifelong smokers will get lung cancer. Fewer yet will contract the long list of other cancers, such as throat or mouth cancers. In the game of risk, you're more likely to have a condom break than to get cancer from smoking. read more

For example, if you had a 100 people, all aged 69 and all smoking 2 packs a day for the last 50 years, 15 of them would develop lung cancer. On the other hand, if you had another 100 people, all aged 62 and all smoking 2 packs a day for the last 25 years, only 3 of them would get lung cancer. read more