Smoking statistics

Smoking and disease

Smoking-related diseases killed almost 21,000 Australians in 2015. That's more than 50 preventable deaths every day. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death and illness in Australia.

Cancer was the number one cause of tobacco-related death and illness and was responsible for 43% of the healthy years lost due to smoking. Lung cancer currently causes the most cancer deaths in Australia and this is due mainly to smoking.

The major tobacco-related diseases include cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (lung disease).

Smoking behaviours in Australia

In 2019, around 15% of people aged 18 years and over smoked. Of particular concern is the smoking rate among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, which in 2018-19 was reported to be 43% among people aged 18 years and over - almost 3 times that of the wider community.

Selected statistics from the 2019 National Drug Strategy Household Survey include:

• In 2019, the male smoking rate was 17% and the female smoking rate was 13% (where current smoking included people who smoked daily, weekly and less than weekly).
• Male smoking rates were higher in all adult age groups.
• People aged 40-49 years had higher smoking rates than other age groups, with a smoking rate of 19%.
• People aged 70 years and over were least likely to smoke (5%).
• Daily smoking rates for Australians aged 18 and over have dropped from 20% in 2001 to 12% in 2019.
• People who have quit smoking outnumber people who currently smoke. In 2019, over 24% of Australians had quit smoking during their lifetime.
• By 2019, 62% of people who had ever smoked had quit.

Smoking in Victoria

The Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer estimates that in 2018, 12.2% of Victorian adults aged 18 and over smoked regularly (on a daily or weekly basis). Also:

• The smoking rate for men (13.8%) was higher than for women (10.7%).
• People who had quit smoking greatly outnumbered people who currently smoked: 28% of people had quit smoking in Victoria.
• Smoking rates were higher among people with lower education: 16.7% of persons who had not completed year 12, compared to 10.1% of people who had completed year 12 or tertiary education.

The 2017 survey of Victorian secondary school students estimated that 3% of 12-15 year old students currently smoked. Among 16-17 year old students, 8% had smoked in the week before the survey. Alarmingly, the average age of adolescents taking up smoking is around 17 years old.

Smoking costs the Victorian community $3.7 billion per year. This figure includes costs to businesses, households and healthcare, and losses from fires, litter and money spent on tobacco. If all Victorian smokers quit, they would have $1.3 billion per year to spend on other goods and services in our economy.

Comparative death rates for people who smoke

Smoking-related diseases killed over 4,400 Victorians in 2011. That is over 3 times the number of Victorian deaths due to alcohol in the same year. One in 8 Victorians killed by tobacco were aged in their 30s, 40s or 50s.

Death rates from tobacco-caused disease are higher among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who are more likely to die from these diseases at a younger age.

The benefits of quitting smoking

Quitting smoking has immediate health benefits and dramatically reduces the risk of smoking-related diseases, whatever the person's age. Statistics include:

• Quitting before 40 years of age reduces your risk of dying from smoking-related disease by about 90%, compared to someone who continues to smoke throughout their life.
• After 20 years of not smoking, your risk of stroke has reduced to close to that of a person who has never smoked.
• Within 2 to 5 years of quitting, there is a large drop in your risk of heart attack and stroke.

Where to get help

• Your GP (doctor)
• Your pharmacist
• Quitline Tel. 13 78 48