SMOKING STATISTICS

Australian Smoking Statistics In 2009

In 2009, the Australian Council on Smoking and Health released their annual report regarding the Australian population and their smelly habit. According to the report, Australia has approximately 5.3 million smokers [approximately 30% are Australian men and 27% Australian women]: they smoke on average 18 cigarettes per day, a total of 34, 821 million cigarettes a year. Of those smokers, more than 18,000 [50 a day] die prematurely. The council reports that smoking kills more people in Australia than the total number killed by alcohol, drug use, homicide, suicide, automobile accidents and airplane crashes.

Unfortunately, the Australian youth are not exempt from these statistics; the Council reports that by the age of 15, 25% of young boys and 28% of young girls are regular smokers. Their involvement in the habit boosts tobacco sales by an estimated $30 million a year - $82,000 each day. And underage smokers aren't the only ones paying for their habits, In Australia $6,763 billion [47%] of the total economic cost is attributed to tobacco. This includes: $609.6 million in direct health care costs and $6,028.3 million in indirect mortality costs.

It is projected that the tobacco industry spends upward of $70 million on cigarette advertising and promotion each year; much of which is directed at recruiting underage youth to start smoking.

While these figures are staggering, there is some hope on the horizon. In Australia, between 1940 and 1950, 72% of men were smokers; that percentage has fallen sharply, and statistics show it is still declining. The proportion of Australian males who smoke fell from 40% in 1980 to 30% in 1989. The number of female smokers fell from 31% to 27% over the same period. Surveys have established that up to 80% of smokers want to stop smoking, and that over 2.9 million people have succeeded in quitting.

The Australian government is approving policies to ban smoking in public places, which they hope will help help win the war against tobacco. When combining these policies with increased awareness of the negative side affects of tobacco, as well as proper policing of underage smokers, we can only hope that statistics will continue to fall.