Lowest Prevalence Of Teen Smoking In Sri Lanka

The lowest prevalence of teen smoking in the world was seen in Sri Lanka, according to a study, the Reuters news agency reported.

Roughly 11 per cent of youth aged 13 to 15 around the world use tobacco products like cigarettes and cigars, a global survey of students suggests.

Tobacco use is the world’s leading cause of preventable death and serious illness, killing an estimated 6 million people each year, researchers note in the youth tobacco report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Most smokers take up the habit in their teens.

Across all of the countries in the study, the lowest prevalence of teen smoking (1.7 per cent) was seen in Sri Lanka. The highest prevalence (35 per cent) was in Timor-Leste.

For boys, the lowest smoking prevalence was 2.9 per cent in Tajikistan and the highest was 61.4 per cent in Timor-Leste. For girls, the lowest rate – 1.6 per cent – was seen in Tajikistan and the highest – 29 per cent – in Bulgaria.

In the majority of countries, at least half of current tobacco smokers said they wanted to quit, the study also found. The proportion of student smokers who said they desired to quit ranged from a low of 32 per cent in Uruguay to a high of 90 per cent in the Philippines.

Limitations of the study include the reliance on teens to accurately recall and report on their smoking behavior, the authors note. It also only included students enrolled in schools, which might not fully represent smoking behavior in these countries.