Despite new data showing a decrease in the number of people with this habit over the past decade, there are still a staggering number of Australians who continue to smoke every day.
According to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, one in every ten adults, or 1.9 million people, regularly smoke one or more cigarettes, cigars, or pipes per day.
The data was released after a comprehensive new anti-smoking law was announced by Federal Health Minister Mark Butler on Wednesday. The law will ban menthol and other flavored cigarettes, each cigarette will have its own health warning, and they will be packaged in "ugly" colors as part of the government's efforts to curb smoking habits.
Mr. Butler also pointed out that cigarette products will be standardized to eliminate the marketing advantages used by tobacco companies, in addition to the plain packaging introduced over a decade ago.
Overall, the proportion of adult daily smokers has decreased over the past decade, dropping from 16.1% in 2011-12 to slightly over 10% in 2021-21.
During the same time period, the proportion of individuals between the ages of 18 to 44 who self-identify as daily smokers has almost halved.
Across the nation, the average age of individuals who consider themselves daily smokers has increased. As of 2021-2022, the average age is 46 years old, up from 42 years old a decade ago. While the number of daily smokers has decreased in all age groups except for those aged 55-64 and 65 years old and above. At the same time, the proportion of young people aged 18-24 who smoke daily has been cut in half, with a decrease from 16.5% in 2011-2012 to 7.1% presently.
In the years 2021 to 2022, a majority of young people aged between 15 to 17, equating to 96.8%, are abstaining from smoking. This is an increase from the 94.2% recorded ten years ago. However, this analysis did not include individuals who use e-cigarettes (vaping), chew tobacco, or consume non-tobacco products. Men appear to be more prone to smoking on a daily basis than women, with the ratio being 12% to 8.2%.
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