An international study came out on Tuesday that threw light on the fact that though people worldwide are well-informed that unhealthy lifestyles, including smoking, drinking and no exercising, pave way to long-term chronic disease, they continue to carry on with the same.

The Bupa Health Pulse survey was conducted on 12,000 people across 12 countries namely Australia, Brazil, Britain, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Mexico, Russia, Spain and the United States. Around 50% of the participants responded that they exercise for only an hour a week or less than that, 70% said that they take alcohol and one-third consented to smoke.

The proportion of those following unhealthy lifestyle suggests that they are not worried about their health, but 80% of the respondents had concerns about getting affected with chronic disease.

The drinking was prevalent at alarming level in Britain with 84% admitting to take alcohol. The smoking proportion was the highest in Russia with 43% of the figure.

Sneh Khemka, Medical Director of Bupa International said, "While we seem to be aware of the prevalence of chronic disease in society, we're not doing enough to reduce our risks of developing a long-term condition".

One-third of the respondents were more apprehensive about cancer in comparison to just 11% who had worries about heart disease and merely 8% were concerned about diabetes.