A success story

The data is from the annual ASH survey of Year 10 students, which has around 30,000 responses.  That’s a really good trend. 12 years ago 70% of Year 10 students had smoked, and now it is 30%. What do readers think is the reason? Peer pressure? Price? Law changes?

A huge difference by ethnicity. In 2011 they are:

• Have smoked – European 23.5%, Maori 53.8%, Pacific 38.9%, Asian 11.7%
• Regular smokers – European 5.6%, Maori 18.1%, Pacific 10.7%, Asian 2.6%
• Daily smokers – European 2.4%, Maori 10.3%, Pacific 5.9%, Asian 1.2%

However Maori Year 10s have had the biggest decline over the period also.