Even smokers support bans to prohibit lighting up in the workplace, according to a new survey.

The international poll of nearly 5,000 people by research institute RTI International and Harris Interactive showed that nearly three-quarters of workers who smoke and 87 percent of employers support a smoke-free work environment.

"Although there was widespread variations among countries, overall the results demonstrate global support for workplace smoking bans," said Michael Halpern, of RIT who is one of the authors of the report.

"This study shows support for additional programmes and policies to increase those bans and assist employees with smoking cessation," he added in a statement.

The strongest support for smoking bans was in India where 85 percent of people voted for smoke-free workplaces, followed by Japan with 75 percent. But only one-third of Germans and 27 percent of Poles thought bans should be in place.

The researchers also found that smokers estimated that they spent about one hour a day puffing on cigarettes, although the majority of people polled did not think the habit had a negative financial impact on the company.

"Several previous studies indicate that despite the beliefs of smoking employees and some employers in our study, smoking does have a substantial negative impact on a business's finance," Halpern added.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been a champion of a global ban on smoking at work. Many countries, including France, Spain, Ireland and Portugal have introduced bans to prevent workplace smoking.

Smoking is a leading cause of preventable death. The WHO says some 200,000 workers die each year due to exposure to smoke at work, while around 700 million children, around half the world's total, breathe air polluted by tobacco smoke, particularly in the home.

According to the WHO almost one billion men and 250 women worldwide smoke some form of tobacco.

South Korea, Japan, China, Taiwan, India, Britain, Italy, Sweden, France, Germany, Spain, Poland, Turkey and Brazil participated in the poll which involved 3,500 workers, smokers and non-smokers, and more than 1,400 employers in the 14 countries.

The United States lags far behind other nations in offering paid sick days, paid parental leave and other workplace benefits that proponents consider vital to public health and workers rights, according to research released last week.

The eight-year study found the most economically competitive nations offer forms of paid leave to workers that the United States does not, according to researchers at Harvard University and Canada's McGill University.

Of the world's 15 most competitive nations, 14 mandate paid sick leave, 13 guarantee paid maternal leave and 12 provide paid paternal leave by law, they said. Eleven provide paid leave to care for children's health and eight provide paid leave for adult family care.

The United States legally guarantees none of these policies to workers, the authors note. The findings are published in a new book, "Raising the Global Floor: Dismantling the Myth that We Can't Afford Good Working Conditions for Everyone."

The issue of paid employee leave in the United States has heated up. Advocates argue paid leave allows sick workers to stay home without financial hardship and helps prevent workers from spreading such diseases as the H1N1 flu.

Advocates for women's rights argue paid family leave is essential for women, who tend to care more for family members than do men, to compete and advance in the job market.

Opponents argue that mandating such leave policies would cost jobs and be a financial burden on businesses.

"One of the questions that's consistently asked in the United States is ... will we be able to compete if we have paid sick leave, paid maternity leave?" said author Jody Heymann of McGill's Institute for Health and Social Policy. "Will there be more unemployment? Will we lose jobs?

"What we found is that none of these policies in any way impede being highly competitive or having low unemployment," she said.

The 15 nations are Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Sweden, Switzerland, Britain and the United States, all of which have been ranked most competitive over the last decade by the World Economic Forum, she said.

Co-authored by Alison Earle, who was a research scientist at Harvard's School of Public Health, the book is published by Stanford University Press.

Looking more widely at 190 countries, the researchers found 163 guarantee paid sick leave and 164 guarantee paid annual leave.

Also, 177 nations guarantee paid leave for new mothers, 74 nations guarantee paid leave for new fathers and 157 nations guarantee workers a day of rest each week, they said.

The United States has none of these, they said.