Japan’s smoking incidence up – or down

Japan’s adult smoking incidence increased slightly between May 2014 and May 2015, according to figures posted on Japan Tobacco Inc.’s website, but the company believes that the incidence is actually falling in line with long-term trends.

JT today announced the latest results of its Japan Smoking Rate Survey, a study that has been carried out annually since 1965.

Smoking among adult men increased by 0.7 of a percentage point to 31.0 percent between May last year and May this year; smoking among adult women fell by 0.2 of a percentage point to 9.6 percent; while smoking among all adults increased by 0.2 percent to 19.9 percent.

The researchers used adult population data from the Statistics Bureau of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (50.36 million men and 54.40 million women as of April 1, 2004; and 50.38 million men and 54.37 million women as of April 1, 2015) to calculate that the number of adult male smokers had risen between May 2014 and May 2015 from 15.26 million to 15.62 million; that the number of adult female smokers had fallen from 5.33 million to 5.22 million; and that overall the number of adult smokers had risen from 20.59 million to 20.84 million.

Commenting on the figures, JT said that the results of the survey showing an increase in smoking among adult men and, therefore, among the adult population as a whole, were within the margin of statistical error.

The company said it was of the view that the incidence of smoking in Japan had, between May 2014 and May 2015, continued to decline.

The continuing decline was said to be due to various factors, including the aging of Japanese society, the growing awareness about the health risks associated with smoking, the tightening of smoking-related regulations and tax and price hikes.