International Patterns of Cigarette Smoking and Global Antismoking Policies

Abstract

This paper provides a recent look at global smoking trends across population subgroups for a large sample of countries. Attention to international aspects has been scarce in the literature. The prevalence of various smoking control policies across different country groups is discussed. The level of economic development in a country and the demographic characteristics of the population appear to be crucial determinants of smoking prevalence. Among four categories of smoking control policies — advertising restrictions, sales restrictions, territorial restrictions, and packaging requirements — territorial restrictions on tobacco use seem most popular across countries, while sales restrictions are least popular. Price (tax)-based policies to control smoking are not effectively being used in many countries, especially developing countries.