China added 15 million smokers in past five years

At 27 percent, China’s adult smoking prevalence is at the same level now as it was in 2010, but the total smoking population has risen by 15 million to 316 million, according to an Ecns.cn story citing the results of a recent national survey.

Currently, more than half of Chinese adult men and 2.7 percent of adult women smoke, the survey found.

The Chinese Adult Tobacco Use Survey 2015, conducted by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDCP), found also that, on average, each smoker consumed 15.2 cigarettes a day, compared with 14.0 in 2010, when the previous survey was conducted.

More than 15,000 people over the age of 15 were interviewed as part of the survey, the results of which were released yesterday.

Meanwhile, the survey found that a smaller percentage of non-smokers are exposed to passive smoke than was the case five years ago.

In 2010, nearly 61 percent of non-smokers reported being exposed to second-hand smoke in their workplaces, but that figure has declined to 54 percent.

Wang Yu, head of the CDCP, said that an all-out effort was needed urgently to advance the public health campaign against smoking.