THE bad news: One in seven Singaporeans still smokes. One in three needs to trim their waistline. Three in four Singaporeans do not exercise regularly.

The good news: Singapore's smoking rate of 14 per cent and obesity rate of 7 per cent are among the lowest in the world.

But much more needs to be done to get all Singaporeans to embrace healthy lifestyle as a way of life, said Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan.

'To succeed, every Singaporean must join in this effort, and from young,'he said, reiterating that the key control strategy is prevention, through healthy lifestyle and managing chronic diseases to avoid future complications.

Mr Khaw gave an update on the leading killers in Singapore in his written reply to questions from MP Ong Ah Heng (Nee Soon Central) in Parliament on Monday.

He listed the top three diseases as cancer, coronary heart disease and stroke, which caused more than 60 per cent of all deaths in Singapore.

This has been the pattern for 20 years here and in other developed countries. These are described as 'lifestyle diseases', as they are often due to modern lifestyle, in contrast with infectious diseases, which were the main killers 40 years ago.

Besides causing death, they are also the main causes for morbidity or ill-health.

Together with diabetes and mental disorders, these five diseases account for more than 70 per cent of disease burden, contributing to the bulk of patients in the clinics and the hospitals, said Mr Khaw.

He said the Ministry of Health will ramp up the preventive effort and allocate more resources to support public education through the Health Promotion Board (HPB) and a systematic disease management programme through hospitals and clinics.

While the budget for HPB has increased by 40 per cent since its establishment in 2001, to around $100 million, the minister said HPB can only be a catalyst, working through partners like the schools, sports council, employers and the community organisations.

'The total national budget on health promotion is therefore much bigger than what is reflected on HPB's financial statements. But this is money worth spending, if we can get more Singaporeans to adopt a healthy lifestyle: eat less, exercise more and do not smoke,' said Mr Khaw.