US and Canada have seen great decreases after big anti smoking campaigns in the 90s and laws in the 2000s. Apparently European countries have not. But I have no idea about Australia and New Zealand.
The rates have gone down and lots of people have moved to vaping as others have mentioned.
My take is that while it’s prohibited in many areas the enforcement is shocking.
I attend a hospital outpatient clinic at least 6 visits per year (usually more for scans and stuff). It’s prohibited on the hospital campus and has been for ages. Signs everywhere.
Don’t think I’ve ever been in the last 10 years and not seen someone smoking.
Similar enforcement in city malls and other areas where it’s prohibited. People only care if it’s inside
I thought this was an easy question to answer, but I realised that I don’t really notice people smoking unless it’s somewhere they aren’t meant to (illegal to smoke in indoor public spaces including near eating areas or on public transport, and in a car if a kid is also in the car). But people smoked around me for most of my early childhood so it’s just something that I’ve internally normalised and don’t notice
The statistics bureau publishes stats every year or two on smoking and according to 2022s:
58.3% of adults have never smoked (including vapes and e-cigs)
10.6% of adults are daily smokers (half of what it was 20 years ago)
14.4% of adults vaped or used an e-cig
People in rurual/outer regional areas are almost twice as likely to smoke
People in areas of “most disadvantage” (ABS talk for poor places) are almost 4x as likely to smoke than those in areas of “least disadvantage” (ABS talk for rich places)
And apparently among daily smokers, the average amount per day is 11.8 cigs
Source for all this (quite interesting imo, but maybe I’m just a nerd): https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/health/health-conditions-and-risks/smoking-and-vaping/latest-release
Ironic that the people who have the smallest amount of disposable income are the most likely to spend money on smoking/vaping.
The price of a packet of cigarettes isn’t going to be the difference between them surviving and thriving, so they opt for the small amount of short term enjoyment.
I can dig it, I was that poor once. It’s like I could go all week without any enjoyment whatsoever, and maybe in a few months I’ll have enough to do something boring but sensible that might slightly improve my long term prospects… Or I could blow the last few bucks in my bank account on a pack of ciggies and have some guilty pleasures immediately.
Pretty hard up stay strong to be honest.
Wow 10.6% still seems really high to me
I suppose - 10.6% of ~20 millionish is still a lot, but compared to how high it used to be, it has gone down a lot. In the 80s over 40% of adult men were smokers
