This measure indicates proportions of adult Australians aged 18 years or over reporting that they did not smoke, and those who reported smoking on a daily basis. The proportion of persons not smoking is the sum of persons who are ex-smokers, and persons who have never smoked.

Respondents were categorised as³: 

• Current daily smoker: a respondent who regularly smoked one or more cigarettes, cigars or pipes per day
• Current smoker – Other: a respondent who smoked cigarettes, cigars or pipes, less frequently than daily
• Ex-smoker: a respondent who does not smoke currently, but previously smoked daily, or has smoked at least 100 cigarettes, or smoked pipes or cigars at least 20 times in their lifetime
• Never smoked: a respondent who has never regularly smoked daily, and has smoked less than 100 cigarettes, or smoked less than 20 pipes or cigars in their lifetime.

Smoker status analysis excludes chewing tobacco and smoking of non-tobacco products. It also excludes e-cigarettes (and similar vaping devices).

Prior to 2004–05, ex-smokers were those who had previously smoked regularly but were not current smokers. The definition of 'regularly' was self-defined by the respondent.⁷

Data for adults aged 18 years and over are sourced from the National Health Survey, a series of Australia-wide health surveys conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). Indigenous data were sourced from the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Surveys and Social Surveys, also conducted by the ABS.

In Australia, the AIHW National Drug Strategy Household Survey (NDSHS)¹⁰ and the ABS National Health Survey (NHS)¹¹ have large sample sizes and collect self-reported data on tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption. Differences in scope, collection methodology, design and questions may lead to variations in estimates (e.g., data are collected for people aged 14 years and over for the NDSHS and people aged 18 years and over for the NHS).⁹

Smoker Status dataset¹²

In 2021–22, the National Health Survey (NHS), the National Study of Mental Health and Wellbeing (NSMHW), the Survey of Income and Housing (SIH), and the Survey of Disability and Carers (SDAC) all collected standard information that was pooled to produce the Smoker Status dataset. The Smoker Status dataset provides data on the prevalence of smoking in Australia and can be cross classified by selected demographic and socio-economic characteristics. Smoking data were previously pooled for the 2020-21 and 2017-18 financial years.

Tobacco control in Australia

The daily smoking rate in people aged 14 years and over decreased by more than half from 1991 to 2022-23 (24.3% to 8.3%),^8-9 attributed to positive outcomes of Australian public health initiatives, especially establishment of the first National Tobacco Campaign in 1997 and the promotion of other tobacco control initiatives at the Commonwealth and State and Territory level. The National Tobacco Strategy is a sub-strategy of the National Drug Strategy that complements the Australian Government’s National Preventive Health Strategy with aims to improve the health of all Australians by reducing tobacco use.^13-14

The proportion of the total burden attributable to tobacco use (from all linked diseases) decreased by 32% between 2003 and 2018 (from 21.5 DALYs to 14.6 DALYs per 1,000 population). The death rate associated with tobacco use decreased by about 31% between 2003 and 2018 (from 1.0 to 0.7 deaths per 1,000 population).²

Methodology

The 2022 National Health Survey (NHS) is regarded as comparable to the 2017-18 NHS and previous cycles. The 2020–21 NHS data should be considered a break in the time series from previous NHS collections and used for point-in-time analysis only. The survey was implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic with a changed process for data collection. 

Changes to the 2022 NHS compared to the 2017-18 NHS in physical activity questions,¹⁵ included: 

• New questions and outputs on use of e-cigarettes and vaping.
• Removal of questions and output items for smoking level compared to 12 months ago.

Remoteness

The Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS) Edition 3 was used to allocate participants to a remoteness area based on their area of usual residence.¹⁶ Data for 2004-05 used the 2001 ASGC, 2011-12 used the 2006 ASGC, 2014-15 data used the 2011 ASGC, and 2017-18, 2020-21 and 21-22 data used the ASGS 2016.

Socioeconomic status

The 2016 Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA) Index for Relative Socio-Economic Disadvantage was used to allocate participants to a SEIFA quintile based on their usual residence.¹⁷ For 2004-05 data, the 2004-05 IRSD was used, for 2011-12 and 2014-15 data the 2011 IRSD was used, and for 2017-18, 2020-21 and 21-22 data, the 2016 IRSD was used.

Data for socioeconomic status and remoteness are available for persons in general for 2022. (note: not yet available by sex). 

Data sources

• ABS National Health Surveys – 1989-90, 1995, 2001, 2004-05, 2007-08, 2011-12, 2014-15, 2017-18, 2020-21 and 2022.
• AIHW National Drug Strategy Household Survey 2022–2023.
• ABS National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Surveys – 2001, 2004-05, 2012-13, 2014-15 and 2018-19.
• OECD.Stat. Health Statistics (database). Non-medical determinants of health. OECD; 2018. Accessed Apr 2023; https://stats.oecd.org/index.aspx?DataSetCode=HEALTH_STAT#
• Smoker Data set 2021-22.