2006 smoking rate drops by 8 percentage points, ahead of health ministry’s goals
The adult male smoking rate in South Korea has been falling rapidly since reaching a peak in 1980. According to a survey of 1,552 South Koreans over the age of 19 - 765 males and 787 females - performed by the Ministry of Health and Welfare in December last year, the smoking rate among male adults was 44.1 percent, an 8.2 percentage point decrease from the previous year. The figure surpassed the ministry’s target of 48.3 percent by 4.2 percentage points. The smoking rate of South Korean male adults dropped to a record low of 49.2 percent in March last year after reaching a peak of 79.3 percent in 1980. Jeon Byeong-yul of the health ministry said, "If such a tendency continues, it will be possible to pull down the smoking rate for adult males to under 30 percent by 2010. The government will continuously proceed with policies such as additionally raising the price of tobacco products, abolishing tax-free tobacco, and strengthening advertising warning about the harmful effects of tobacco." The survey showed that the overall smoking rate for Korean adults was 22.9 percent, with only 2.3 percent of females smoking, a 0.4 percentage point decrease from a year earlier.Please direct questions or comments to [englishhani@hani.co.kr]
