More Australian teenagers are choosing not to drink and smoke, according to a major new report

LAUREN WILSON
JULY 17, 2014
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA NETWORK
AUSTRALIAN teenagers are drinking and smoking less than they were three years ago, and are waiting longer before experimenting with alcohol.
The surprising findings are contained in a major new report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, which reveals fewer 12 to 17 year olds are making the decision to consume alcohol, and those who do are waiting until they are almost 16 to have their first drink.
The National Drug Strategy Household Survey shows the number of teens abstaining from alcohol has increased from 64 per cent to 72 per cent over the last three years alone.
The number of young Australians choosing not to smoke has also increased significantly, from 72 per cent to 77 per cent over the same period, and young smokers are also waiting until they are almost 16 before they experiment with their first cigarette, up from an average age of just over 14 years in 1995.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Geoff Neideck said the findings of the report were encouraging.
“I think you could say that young Australians are making more sensible choices around smoking and drinking,” he said.
The research also shows that fewer Australians are smoking on a daily basis, with the daily smoking rate dropping from just over 15 per cent to 12.8 per cent in the past three years.
And the average number of cigarettes a smoker has each week has also declined from 111 in 2010 to 96 in 2013.
But Mr Neideck said it was too early to tell whether specific government policies like plain packaging were behind the downward trend.
“It is quite evident that there are a range of government policies to minimise the harms to do with smoking and alcohol,” he said.
“Plain packaging came in between 2010 and 2013, in what was a fairly strong drop in the daily smoking rate, but it would be a stretch to say this data shows that was a key factor.”
The survey shows the number of Australians consuming risky levels of alcohol has also dropped in the past three years, but almost 5 million people still reported being a victim of an alcohol-related incident in 2013.
While the research pointed to a decline in the use of some illicit drugs, including ecstasy and heroin, the use of ice doubled over the past three years and more Australians are misusing prescription medicines like painkillers.