Smoking rates

Some Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander smoking rate facts:

Table 1

Table 2

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics 2010, The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Oct 2010 (cat no. 4704.0), ABS, Canberra

How Many?

• Australia has some of the lowest rates of smoking in the world
  Generally smoking rates for Australia have declined over recent years from 34% in 1980 (Winstanley and White 2008) to16.6% in 2007 being daily smokers (AIHW 2007).
• Indigenous people are nearly three times more likely to smoke than other Australians
  In 2008 nearly half (45%) of Indigenous Australians over the age of 15 smoked cigarettes daily (ABS 2010). 
• Recently there has been a slight drop in smoking rates for Indigenous people
  After many years of no change in smoking rates we are beginning to see a slight drop in the number of Indigenous people who smoke. Between 2002 and 2008 smoking rates for Indigenous people aged 15 years and over have dropped from 49% to 45% (ABS 2010).
• Indigenous Australians make fewer quitting attempts and are less successful at quitting than other Australian Smokers (Ivers 2001; AIHW 2004)
  In 2008, nearly two in three (62%) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander current daily smokers had attempted to quit or reduce their smoking in the previous 12 months (ABS 2010). This is less than for other Australians of which 81% had attempted to quit in the preceding 12 months (Ellerman, Ford et al. 2008).
• Most Indigenous households are smoking households.
  In 2004-2005, 62% of households with Indigenous residents had a least one regular smoker (ABS 2007).
  
  

Smoking and Age

• Indigenous smoking rates are at least twice that of non-Indigenous rates for both men and women across all age groups
  Smoking rates are higher in the younger age groups and lower in the over 55 age group for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations (ABS 2010).
• More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people take up smoking younger than other Australians
  The rate of uptake of smoking is earlier (Ellerman, Ford et al. 2008) and much higher among Indigenous children, with the decision to smoke usually taken between the ages of 12-16. One in ten Indigenous current or ex smokers began smoking before 13 years of age (ABS 2007). Smoking rates for Indigenous 15-24 year olds in 2008 were 38.7% for males and 39.7% for females and for non-Indigenous 15-24 year olds were 15.7% for males and 13.9% for females. See Table 1 & 2
• Women smoking rates are highest during their child bearing years
  For both men and women, the highest levels of smokers are for those aged 25-44 years (ABS 2010). This is particularly significant for women since this is the age when women are having their children. See Table 1 & 2.
  
  

Smoking and Location

• Generally smoking rates are higher for Indigenous people living in remote areas than those living in major cities (53% compared to 42%) (ABS 2010).
• Smoking rates can vary considerably from community to community.
  Studies have found that in some regions the prevalence of tobacco use for men is as low as 39% in Alice Springs and as high as 80% in Bourke and for women as low as 17% in Tennant Creek and as high as 69% in the Ballarat region (Winstanley 2008).
  
  

Smoking and Gender

• Smoking rates are similar for both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women
  In 2008 46% of Indigenous men and 43% of Indigenous women smoked daily (ABS 2010).

Smoking and Pregnancy

• Studies that have reported on smoking rates among pregnant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women show rates a least as high as those among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community generally. This is much higher than for non-Indigenous women (15%) (ABS 2010; Winstanley 2008). Smoking during pregnancy increases the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight.

Smoking rates by state

Generally Indigenous smoking rates are much the same from state to state 

Source: National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, 2004-2005 (ABS 2006a)

However regional surveys have found that the smoking rates can vary considerably. For example:

• Wilcannia, New South Wales - in the late 1980s, 71% of Indigenous males and 76% of Indigenous females reported smoking (Stephenson and Lenz 1990).
• Bourke, New South Wales - in the early 1970s, 87% of Indigenous males and 71% of Indigenous females reported smoking (Kamien 1978).
• Northern Territory - in 1987-1988, 56% of Indigenous people (71% of males and 43% of females) smoked and, of the 44% who did not smoke, 12% had smoked in the past (Watson, Fleming et al. 1988).
• Adelaide , South Australia - in 1989, 78% of Indigenous males and 64% of Indigenous females reported smoking (Lake 1989).
• Country Victoria - in 1992, 67% of Indigenous males and 63% of Indigenous females reported smoking (Guest, O'Dea et al. 1992).
• Southern Western Australia - in 1992, 60% of Indigenous people aged between 15 and 29 years smoked, and nearly half of the older Indigenous people also smoked (Knowles and Woods 1993)

Further information

Download 'Just the Facts' a fact sheet about tobacco usage among Indigenous Australians