Rationale

Tobacco smoking is a well-recognised risk factor for many cancers and for respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. In addition, exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (particularly maternal smoking) has been identified as a major risk factor for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) and respiratory problems in children. Internationally, smoking has been identified as the major cause of preventable death in OECD countries.²⁰

Current Level and Trends

In 2002, 25 percent of New Zealanders aged 15 years and over were cigarette smokers. The prevalence of smoking has declined from 30 percent in 1986 with most of the decline occurring between 1987 and 1991. Since 1998 there has been little change.

Figure H5.1 Prevalence of cigarette smoking, 1986-2002

Source: Ministry of Health (2003b) Appendix 1, Table 11

Age and Sex Differences

Smoking is most prevalent among people aged 25-34 years, followed by those aged 15-24 years, and those aged 35-54. Older people aged 55 and over are much less likely to smoke and have experienced the greatest decline in smoking prevalence over the past 15 years.

Smoking prevalence has been similar for both sexes since the mid-1980s. In 2002, the rate was 25 percent for males and 24 percent for females. Females are slightly more likely than males to smoke at ages 15-34, but for those aged 35 and over, smoking has generally been more prevalent among males; over the 1990s, both sexes became less likely to smoke.

Table H5.1 Prevalence of smoking by sex and age group, 2001

	Percentage in each age group who smoke cigarettes
	15-24	25-34	35-54	55+	Total
Male	31.6	31.1	26.7	13.6	25.2
Female	33.2	32.0	25.3	11.1	23.9

Source: Ministry of Health (2003b) Appendix 1, Table 6

Ethnic Differences

Māori women have the highest smoking prevalence (52 percent), followed by Māori men (39 percent). Among Pacific peoples, smoking is more prevalent among men (35 percent) than among women (29 percent).

Since the early 1990s, smoking prevalence has declined by about three percentage points for European/Other ethnic groups but has remained relatively unchanged for Māori and Pacific peoples.²¹

Table H5.2 Age-standardised prevalence of smoking by sex and ethnicity, 2002

	Percentage in each age group who smoke cigarettes
	Māori	Pacific peoples	European/Other	Total
Male	39.3	34.6	23.8	26.2
Female	51.9	28.5	20.6	25.5
Total	46.4	31.9	22.1	25.8

Source: Ministry of Health (2003b) Table 1
Note: Rates are age-standardised using the WHO world population

Socio-Economic Differences

Smoking is more prevalent among those with lower incomes, beneficiaries, and those living in the most deprived areas. An analysis of 1996 Census data shows that the proportion of smokers in the most deprived (decile 10) areas is two to three times the proportion of smokers in the least deprived (decile 1) areas for all age groups, and for both men and women.²²

International Comparison

In a 2001 comparison of adult smoking prevalence rates, New Zealand had a rate of 25 percent, compared with an OECD median of 27 percent.²³ New Zealand ranked eighth best out of 17 OECD countries. Smoking prevalence was worst in the Netherlands (34 percent). New Zealand's rate was slightly better than that of the United Kingdom (27 percent), but considerably worse than those of Australia (19.8 percent), the United States (18.5 percent) and Canada (18.0 percent). When compared to other developed countries, New Zealand's smoking levels are relatively low for males and relatively high for females.²⁴

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