According to the survey by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the proportion of men who smoke came to 39.3 percent in 2017, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier. The survey was conducted on a total of 228,381 adults.
SEOUL, March 28 (Korea Bizwire) – The smoking rate for South Korean men aged 19 or older fell last year and stood below the 40 percent-mark for the first time, a survey showed Wednesday, partly on the back of the adoption of warning images on cigarette packs.
According to the survey by the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the proportion of men who smoke came to 39.3 percent in 2017, down 1.3 percentage points from a year earlier. The survey was conducted on a total of 228,381 adults.
The smoking rate has steadily fallen from 47.8 percent in 2008 to 40.6 percent in 2015, except for 2009 and 2016, the survey showed.
The smoking rate temporarily moved up to 40.7 percent in 2016 following a huge drop a year earlier due to an increase in tobacco prices.
In January 2015, South Korea increased the price of cigarettes by 80 percent, from 2,500 won (US$2.25) per pack to 4,500 won, in an effort to curb smoking.
In 2016, the government required tobacco companies to put graphic warnings on the upper part of both sides of cigarette packs. The pictorial warnings are required to cover more than 30 percent of both sides of a pack.
(Yonhap)
