Two out of 10 adults smoke daily: survey

At least two out of every 10 Korean adults smoke cigarettes every day, according to a survey released by the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs yesterday.

The average smoking rate for Korean adults stood at 22.3 percent in the second half of last year, up 0.4 percentage point from the first half, the survey showed.

The rate reached 23 percent in 2007 before declining to 21.9 percent in the January-June period of 2008.

The survey was conducted on 3,006 male and female adults through telephone interviews by Gallup on Dec. 11-20.

The smoking rate for men rose from 40.4 percent in June last year to 40.9 percent in December, while the figure for women increased from 3.7 percent to 4.1 percent during the same period.

Some speculate that the surge in the average smoking rate may be in part attributed to the economic difficulties that have been gripping the nation.

Meanwhile, the National Cancer Center launched a smoke-free campaign yesterday, claiming that one`s life span will be shortened by an average of a decade through smoking.

The average life span for those quitting smoking at the age of 60 saw an increase of 3 years. These was a six-year increase for those who did so at 50.

It was also discovered that there was no shortening of life-span when one stops smoking before 30, NCC officials said.

By Cho Ji-hyun



(sharon@heraldm.com)