Russia’s smoking population tumbles

The percentage of smokers within Russia’s population has dropped by six percentage points since the country adopted a stringent package of anti-tobacco regulations last year, according to a story in The Moscow Times citing a new poll.

The RussianPublicOpinionResearchCenter, which is a state-owned pollster, said on Wednesday that the percentage of smokers in the country had tumbled from 41 percent to 35 percent during the past year.

The poll revealed also that only a third of the country’s smokers had made an effort to comply with a new ban on smoking in public places.

In June last year, a law banning smoking in public places such as healthcare and educational facilities, government buildings, public transportation and sports venues came into force. And in June this year, the scope of the smoking ban was extended to restaurants, bars, long-distance trains and hotels.

The results of the poll, which was conducted in July, were based on the responses of 1,600 adults across 42 Russian regions in July.