Zhang Yu, Lin Qiuying

JeniZhang13@163.com

THE cigarette smoking rate of Shenzhen teens has dropped to 1.1% — the lowest in its history and far lower than the latest national rate of 4.7% — according to a report released Thursday, a day before the 37th World No Tobacco Day.

This year’s No Tobacco Day theme is “Protecting Children from Tobacco Industry Interference.”

This data comes from a survey of 7,376 middle school students from 19 middle schools that was jointly conducted by the Shenzhen Tobacco Control Office and the Shenzhen Center for Chronic Disease Control.

This is the second time that Shenzhen has conducted a survey on the prevalence of tobacco use among teenagers in the city.

According to the survey, the ratio of Shenzhen middle school students who tried smoking, smoked, tried e-cigarettes, and used e-cigarettes has decreased notably to 5.9%, 1.1%, 4.9%, and 0.8%, respectively.

The report shows that 43.3% of survey participants reported that at least one of their parents is a smoker and 20.3% reported having friends who smoke, indicating that challenges still lie ahead for creating a smoke-free environment for students.

Shenzhen has been promoting smoke-free schools since 2022 and has built nearly 3,000 smoke-free schools to date, according to the city’s health authority.

Among students who smoked cigarettes in the past 30 days, 41% smoked one to five cigarettes per day, the report said.

According to a report released by the World Health Organization on May 23, an estimated 37 million teenagers aged 13 to 15 years use tobacco globally, and in many countries, the rate of e-cigarette use among adolescents exceeds that of adults.