Hong Kong sees number of smokers fall to one in nine

Aug 25, 2011, 5:45 GMT

Hong Kong - The number of smokers in Hong Kong has fallen to just one in nine adults, one of the world's lowest levels, the city's government announced Thursday.

Around 709,000 people or 11.1 per cent of people aged 15 and above in the city smoke, compared to more than 23 per cent in 1982, Hong Kong's Census and Statistics Department said.

Just under 20 per cent of Hong Kong men smoke, the first time the rate has fallen to less than one in five, while just 3 per cent of women are smokers, the department said.

The percentages were calculated based on the population aged 15 and over. Tobacco cannot legally be sold to anyone under 18 in the territory, but the law is only laxly enforced. There is no formal minimum smoking age.

In advertisements taken out in Thursday's Hong Kong newspapers, the department claimed a combination of cigarette tax, no-smoking areas and health promotion had driven down the smoking rate.

Hong Kong now has one of the lowest rates of smoking in the world. By contrast, around 21 per cent of adults in Britain and the United States smoke, according to statistics released by those countries.

According to the World Health Organization, around 30 per cent of the world's smokers live in mainland China, where around 60 per cent of men smoke.