Tobacco smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Australia. Smoking leads to a wide range of diseases including many types of cancer, heart disease and stroke, chest and lung illnesses and stomach ulcers.
The most recent estimate of deaths caused by tobacco in Australia is for the year 2018. Tobacco use caused a total of 20,500 deaths in that year. This includes deaths from active smoking and from exposure to secondhand smoke.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics' 'Smoker status' dataset, which pools data from the National Health Survey and other national surveys, the prevalence of daily smoking for Australians aged 18 and over in 2021–22 was 10.1%, and 9.7% among people aged 15 years and over.
Tobacco smoking is one of the largest preventable causes of death and disease in Australia. Smoking is estimated to kill almost 20,500 Australians a year (13% of all deaths) and was responsible for 8.6% of the total burden of disease in Australia in 2018[1].
Daily smoking rates in Australia are around the lowest among Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries – 11.2% for Australians aged 15 and over in 2019 (AIHW 2020, Table 2.7) 16.1% in 2021 (or nearest year) for OECD countries (OECD 2022).
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.
Tobacco smoking remains the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Australia. Smoking leads to a wide range of diseases including many types of cancer, heart disease and stroke, chest and lung illnesses and stomach ulcers. It claims the lives of around 24,000 Australians every year.
Smoking is the single most important preventable cause of ill health and death in Australia [1]. Tobacco smoke contains over 7,000 chemicals, of which over 70 cause cancer. When tobacco smoke is inhaled, these chemicals enter the lungs and spread through the body via the lymphatic system [2].
Countries with the highest smoking-related deaths
In 2019, Serbia had 356 deaths per 100,000 caused by smoking, higher than any other country.
Certain countries stand out for their alarmingly high smoking rates. Nauru takes the lead with a staggering 48.50% of its population engaging in smoking habits. Myanmar, Serbia, Papua New Guinea, and East Timor also face high smoking rates, exceeding 35%.
On 6 December 1995, the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) banned smoking in cafes and restaurants, the first jurisdiction in Australia to do so. Since 1 December 2006 a smoking ban has applied to all enclosed public places.
British patterns of tobacco use were transported to Australia along with the new settlers in 1788. Among free settlers, officers and convicts, tobacco smoking was widespread2,3 and in the years following colonisation, British smoking behaviour was rapidly adopted by Indigenous people as well.
Latest findings
In 2019, 11.0% of Australians smoked tobacco daily, down from 12.2% in 2016 and 24% in 1991. Between 2016 and 2019, the proportion of people who had ever used e-cigarettes rose from 8.8% to 11.3%. Between 2016 and 2019, the proportion of ex-drinkers rose from 7.6% to 8.9%.
With the life expectancy in Australia at 82.1 years, smokers are losing an average of one day in eight off their lives. So, a person who started smoking at 15, who smoked an average of 15 cigarettes a day and died at 72, would have smoked 312,288 cigarettes in their lifetime. These each take about six minutes to smoke.
Cigarettes will be hit with a five per cent price increase every year from September 1, with the full amount to be applied by 2026. Currently a pack of Winnie Blue 30s cost about $50, which will increase to $57.50 under the new tax.
In 2015–16, tobacco smoking was estimated to cost Australian society $137 billion, comprising $19.2 billion in tangible costs (such as health care, reduced workplace productivity and caring for someone with a smoking‑related disease), and $118 billion in intangible costs (such as pain and suffering caused by ill health ...
80 per cent of lung cancer disease burden and 75 per cent of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease burden in Australia is caused by tobacco use (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2016).
The reasons for the high smoking rates among Aboriginal people are complex. They include: being exposed to smoking early in life and living in a community where smoking is 'the social norm' social disadvantage such as living in poverty, leaving school early and unemployment.
These were: cancer and other neoplasms (3,612 or 23% of all deaths for Indigenous Australians) circulatory diseases (3,471 or 23%), for example, heart attack and stroke. injury and poisoning (external causes) (2,240 or 15%), including suicide (intentional self-harm)
Smoking is still the single greatest contributor to the disease burden in Australia, responsible for 9.3 per cent of the disease burden in Australia.
Speeding Accidents
Speeding is the number 1 cause of fatal road accidents in Australia.
Smoking in Australia is restricted in enclosed public places, workplaces, in areas of public transport and near underage events, except new laws in New South Wales that ban smoking within ten metres of children's play spaces. The smoking population of Australia is 11.6%.
More than 70% of Australia's 2.9 million remaining current smokers have a definite plan to quit and routine surveys suggest that about half of them try to do so every year. Most people attempt to quit many times before they succeed and the rate of success is low. Quitting in priority populations is lower still.
As of 2017, leading brands of smoking tobacco in Australia were Champion, Drum, White Ox, and JPS produced by Imperial Brands, and Winfield produced by British American Tobacco.