Prevalence of Tobacco Use Among Young People in Australia

"Involvement with smoking became more common as adolescents progress through secondary school.
"In 2014, 81% of all secondary students in Australia had no experience with smoking. While the proportion of students who had never smoked decreased with age, 61% of 17-year-olds had still never smoked.
"Around three per cent of all students had smoked more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime, which peaked at eight per cent for 17-year-olds.
"The proportion of students smoking in the previous four weeks (past-month smokers) increased from one per cent of 12-year-olds to 17% of 17-year-olds.
"The proportion of students who were current smokers in 2014 increased from one per cent of 12-year-olds to 12% of 17-year-olds.
"Only around three per cent of all students had smoked on three or more of the past seven days (committed smokers), with this peaking at seven per cent of 17-year-olds.
"While in general the prevalence of smoking among male and female students was fairly similar, there were some differences with most of these found for the older students. For 16- and 17-year-olds, while more males than females had smoked 100 cigarettes in their lifetime (p<0.01), more females than males in these two ages had smoked in the past year (p<0.01). Smoking in the past seven days was more common for males than females aged 16 (p<0.01). Committed smoking was more common among males than females aged 16 and 17 years (p<0.01). Differences at the other ages were: 14-year-olds, more females than males smoked in the past month (p<0.01); 12-year-olds, more males than females smoked on three or more of the past seven days (p<0.01).
"Extrapolating the sample results to the Australian student population, it is estimated that just under 81,000 12- to 17-year-olds students in Australia had smoked at least one cigarette in the seven days preceding the survey (current smokers)."