CANBERRA, July 17 (Xinhua) -- The smoking rate in Australia hit a new record-low in 2025, according to a government report, but use of illicit tobacco has more than tripled since 2019.
The report released on Friday by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) said the National Drug Strategy Household Survey found that 5.6 percent of Australians aged 14 and over smoked daily in 2025, down from 8.3 percent in 2022-23 and 24.3 percent in 1991.
The proportion of Australians aged 14 and over who have never smoked has steadily increased from 49 percent in 1991 to 68.7 percent in 2025.
The survey found that daily e-cigarette use increased slightly from 3.5 percent of the over-14 population in 2022-23 to 3.6 percent in 2025, while the proportion of people who used e-cigarettes on a monthly or weekly basis fell from 7 percent to 6 percent in the same period.
Overall, the proportion of Australians who used any nicotine product in the previous 12 months declined from 17.4 percent in 2022-23 to 15.2 percent in 2025.
"Daily smoking rates have more than halved over the past two decades, alongside a decline in overall nicotine use, pointing to sustained progress in reducing tobacco use across the population," AIHW spokesperson Louise Gates said in a media release.
However, the survey found that illicit tobacco use has sharply risen in recent years.
Among current smokers, 34 percent in 2025 said they had used illicit tobacco recently compared to 16.7 percent in 2022-23 and 10 percent in 2019.
A separate report released in December by the federal government's Illicit Tobacco and E-cigarette Commissioner estimated that half of all tobacco products sold in Australia in 2024-25 were illicit. ■