Smoking rate continues long-term decline

Japan’s smoking incidence fell below 20 percent in May, according to the Japan Smoking Rate Survey that has been conducted annually by Japan Tobacco Inc. since 1965.
The overall incidence of smoking stands at 19.7 percent, down from 20.9 percent last year, with the rate of smoking among men down from 32.2 percent to 30.3 percent and that among women down from 10.5 percent to 9.8 percent.
Given these figures and population data provided by the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Japan’s smoking population was calculated to be 20.59 million, down from 21.95 million last year. The number of male smokers stands at 15.26 million, down from 16.23 million; while the number of female smokers stands at 5.33 million, down from 5.72 million.
JT said that the smoking rate in Japan had been on a declining trend because of various factors, including the country’s aging population, growing awareness about the health risks associated with smoking, the tightening of smoking-related regulations and a tax and price hike earlier this year.