Prevalence of Tobacco Use in Spain 2011

"In 2011, a total of 71.1% of the individuals within the age 15-64 age group in Spain had used tobacco at least once in their lives (Fig. 2.2), meaning a drop of 3.3 percentage points compared to the last measurement taken but not reaching the levels of previous years which in no case surpassed 70%.
"Focusing on tobacco use within the last 12 months, the degree of prevalence drops to 40.2%, meaning 56.1% of those individuals who had used tobacco sometime in their lives (Fig 2.3). Although this percentage is similar to that reported in for 2009, (57.1% of those who had smoked at some time in their lives had done so within the last 12 months), the degree of prevalence is the lowest for the entire time period analysed. This is likewise the case for the time indicator for within the last 30 days, which shows the lowest level of all the years studied, 37.6% of Spain’s age 15-64 population (Fig. 2.2). Lastly, focusing on the daily tobacco use within the last 30 days, the prevalence drops to 30.4%. Worthy of note is the fact that, for calculating the continuity of use, a quotient is calculated between the prevalence for the nearest time horizon and the furthest time horizon to be taken into account. For example, to ascertain how many of those individuals who have smoked within the last 12 months have also smoked within the last 30 days, the prevalence for the last 12 months has been divided by the prevalence for the last 30 days. The average age of onset of use (Fig. 2.2) was 16.5 years of age in 2011, remaining constant over the course of time, whilst the average age of onset for daily tobacco use has lowered to 18.5 years of age (compared to 19.3 years of age in 2009).
"Daily smoking is more widespread among males in all age groups (Fig. 2.4), reaching its maximum level in the 34-55 age segment (38.1%) whilst women show the greatest prevalence in the 25-34 age range (31%). The greatest difference between genders is found in the 55-64 age range (27.5% of the males compared to 16.3% of females) whilst the percentages show themselves to be more evenly matched in the 15-24 age range (28.7% of males compared to 24.8% of the females). Daily cigarette smoking among Spaniards within the 15-64 age range within the last month is of 13.6 cigarettes. Males smoke more cigarettes daily (14.6 cigarettes) than women (12.3 cigarettes)."