(CNN) It took a mere 52 smokers to kill one person via secondhand smoke in 2016, according to a new analysis of worldwide statistics on the impact of smoking.

Considering there are an estimated billion smokers in the world, that means a million people die each year simply by inhaling the smoke around them, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal JAMA Network Open.

"There's a sense of secondhand smoke being benign, or not as damaging as the actual smoking is," said study co-author Dr. Jagat Narula, associate dean of global affairs at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City.

"But it's truly deadly," Narula added.

"This study confirms what other research has shown: That nonsmokers are at risk from secondhand smoke and that no one should be exposed to it," said Dr. Albert Rizzo, chief medical officer for the American Lung Association, who was not involved in the study.

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