One year after a spike in cigarette prices, the fever to quit smoking has died down with a much fewer number of people joining anti-smoking clinics operated by public health centers, data showed Tuesday. (Image : Yonhap)
CHEONGJU, Feb. 23 (Korea Bizwire) - One year after a spike in cigarette prices, the fever to quit smoking has died down with a much fewer number of people joining anti-smoking clinics operated by public health centers, data showed Tuesday.
According to the data, only 219 smokers registered with a clinic that helps people kick the habit in the central city of Cheongju from Jan. 1 to Feb. 19, down 36.9 percent from the 344 who registered in the same period last year.
Another health center also saw the number of people registered at its clinic tumble 46.9 percent, with two other centers suffering drops of nearly 25 percent. Those anti-smoking clinics are free of charge.
A health center official said the consultation room of the clinic was crowded with would-be quitters last year, but only seven to eight smokers are visiting the clinic per day this year.
Experts said the anti-smoking fever seems to have faded as smokers get accustomed to the increased tobacco prices.
Citing the need to discourage smoking among its people, South Korea jacked up the taxes levied on cigarettes by 2,000 won (US$1.62), starting in January last year, raising the price to 4,500 won per pack.
Sales of cigarettes plunged 23.7 percent on-year to 3.33 billion packs in 2015, with shipments dropping 29.6 percent on-year to 3.17 billion packs.
Meanwhile, less than half of smokers who tried to quit succeeded, according to statistics from the Health and Welfare Ministry. Out of 434,387 people who entered quit smoking clinics in 2014, only 49.2 percent succeeded in giving up smoking for six months.
(Yonhap)
