Smoking and death rates

• According to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2004-2005, 50% of Indigenous people 18 years and older reported smoking tobacco daily [61].
• In comparison for the general population only 17.4% of people aged over 14 years reported smoking daily [62].
• Smoking rates were similar for both males and females with 51% of Indigenous men and 49% of Indigenous women smoking daily. The proportion of daily smokers living in remote areas were higher for males with 58% of men being smokers; were as the rates for women were higher in non-remote areas with 50% being smokers [61].
• Studies have indicated that in some Indigenous communities the prevalence of tobacco use is as high as 83% among men [16] and 73% among women [17].
• Aboriginal women also smoke at a much higher rate during pregnancy than non-Aboriginal women (57.8% vs 24.0% at first antenatal visit, respectively), increasing the risk of preterm birth and low birth weight [10].
• The rate of uptake of smoking is much higher among Indigenous children, with the decision to smoke usually taken between the ages of 12-16. Smoking rates for 15-24 year olds in 2002 were 44.5% [6]
• For both men and women, the highest levels of smokers are for those aged 25-44 years [3]. See Table 1.

Table 1: Smoking rates for persons aged 18 years and over: by Indigenous status

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2004-2005, cat. no. 4715.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra

• smaller percentage of Indigenous people are ex-smokers and a smaller proportion of current smokers are attemptin to quit [14]. See Table 2.

Table 2: Ex-smoker rates for persons aged 18 years and over: by Indigenous status

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey 2004-2005, cat. no. 4715.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra

• In addition to high smoking rates, Indigenous Australians also smoke, on average, more cigarettes per week (125 cigarettes) than other Australians (108 per week) [7].

Mortality among Indigenous people from tobacco caused disease

Death rates from tobacco related disease are also higher among the Aboriginal than the non-Aboriginal population [19]. In the period 1989-1991 among Aboriginal men, the death rate was 2.4 times that of non-Aboriginals. Among Aboriginal women, the death rate was 3.7 times higher than that of non-Aboriginals.

Death also occurs at a younger age than among the non-Aboriginal population. Among Aboriginal people, 49% of male deaths and 48% of female deaths related to smoking occurred before the age of 55 years, compared to 11% of male and 10% of female non-Aboriginal deaths [19].

Regular tobacco use by 15 year old Australians is likely to reduce life expectancy by 6.5 years in males and 5.1 years in females [20].

If tobacco related deaths were eliminated for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, life expectancy for men would increase from 58.5 years to 61 years, and for women would increase from 65.3 years to 67 years.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience 2-8 times the death rate of others in all age groups, [21] however, the percentage of deaths attributable to tobacco use is likely to be similar to that in the mainstream population-about 15% [22, 23].

Non-Indigenous Mortality rates

Around 18,200 of the 127,202 deaths that occurred in 1997 have been attributed to tobacco use. [24, 25] This represents 80% of all drug-related deaths. Overall, smoking is responsible for 40% of deaths in men and 20% in women [26, 27], for those persons aged 65 years or less. For people aged 65 years or older, cigarette smoking causes 8% of deaths in men and women.

Download ‘Just the Facts’ a fact sheet about tobacco usage amongst Indigenous Australians

Chart one outlines a summary of Indigenous smokers for each State and Territory. The highest proportion of smokers can be found in Victoria (51.8), the Northern Territory (50.7) and New South Wales (50.7). The smallest proportion of smokers is found in Tasmania (49.7).

Chart 1:

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2004, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey 2002, cat. No. 4714.0, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canberra

In Western Australia in 1989-1991, smoking was estimated to cause more deaths than alcohol among Indigenous people [19, 28].

The death rate for Indigenous men was 271 deaths per 100 000 population for smoking related deaths, compared with 152 deaths per 100 000 for alcohol-related deaths. Among Indigenous women, the death rate for smoking-related deaths was 118 per 100 000, compared with 56 per 100 000 for alcohol-related deaths.

Earlier State and Territory studies

Wilcannia, New South Wales - in the late 1980s, 71% of Indigenous males and 76% of Indigenous females reported smoking [29].

Bourke, New South Wales - in the early 1970s, 87% of Indigenous males and 71% of Indigenous females reported smoking [30].

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 [17].

Adelaide , South Australia - in 1989, 78% of Indigenous males and 64% of Indigenous females reported smoking [31].

Country Victoria - in 1992, 67% of Indigenous males and 63% of Indigenous females reported smoking [32].

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 [33].