Thursday, October 18, 2007 at 05:00 EDT
TOKYO — Japan's smoking rate hit a record low this year for the 12th straight year on people's growing health consciousness and toughened smoking regulations, Japan Tobacco Inc. said Wednesday.
Its annual survey, with responses from 19,200 adults, in May showed the smoking rate in the adult population stood at 26%, down 0.3 percentage point from the previous year. The smoking rate for men fell 1.1 points to 40.2%, while that for women rose 0.3 point to 12.7%. A JT official said a new factor behind the smoking rate drop this year may be that some baby-boomers stopped smoking after retirement.
Japan Today - News - Japan's smoking rate hits record low
