Passive smoking kills 600,000 people annually, a third of which are children exposed to tobacco smoke at home, according to the results of the latest research of the World Health Organization (WHO).

The results of the research conducted in 192 countries showed that passive smoking is especially dangerous for children, who are at greater risk of sudden death, pneumonia and asthma.

Passive smoking causes cardiovascular diseases, respiratory organs diseases and lung cancer, the WHO asserted.

The WHO is particularly worried for 165,000 children who die each year from respiratory infections caused by tobacco smoke, mostly in southeastern Asia and Africa.

The results also showed that passive smoking is very dangerous for women, since it annually kills 281,000 of them worldwide.

The reason for that is the fact that in many parts of the world, there is at least 50 percent greater possibility for women to be exposed to passive smoking than men, the WHO noted.