Among households with lower income, the price of cigarettes had a relatively larger influence on the decision to quit smoking. (image: Korea Bizwire)
SEOUL, Dec. 22 (Korea Bizwire) — A recent study revealed that roughly 4 in 10 smokers in South Korea decided to quit smoking after experiencing deteriorating health.
The Korea Health Promotion Institution conducted an online survey of 1,031 male and female adults between the ages of 20 and 65 nationwide, 44.5 percent of whom picked ‘deteriorating health’ as the primary reason for quitting smoking.
Among households with lower income, however, the price of cigarettes had a relatively larger influence on the decision to quit smoking.
Among households making less than 3 million won (US$2,700) each month, 15.2 percent decided to quit smoking because of rising cigarette prices.
At 87.5 percent, the vast majority of respondents had already tried to quit smoking, which also showed differences depending on how much income they earned.
Among households making more than 10 million won each month, 97 percent had attempted to quit smoking.
Among those making less than 3 million won, only 81.5 percent tried to quit smoking, indicating that people making less money try less to quit smoking.
Older people tended to have more experience smoking, as 54.9 percent of people in their 60s said they had smoked before, followed by those in their 50s (53.9 percent), 40s (47.6 percent), 30s (40.8 percent), and 20s (24.4 percent).
Among respondents currently engaged in economic activities, 52.3 percent said they had smoked before. Among those who were economically inactive, only 23 percent said they had smoking experience.
Ashley Song (ashley@koreabizwire.com)
