1.8 Trends in prevalence of smoking by country of birth

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1.1 A brief history of tobacco smoking in Australia

1.2 Overview of major Australian data sets

1.3 Prevalence of smoking—adults

1.4 Prevalence of smoking—young adults

1.5 Prevalence of smoking—middle-aged and older adults

1.6 Prevalence of smoking—secondary students

1.7 Trends in the prevalence of smoking by socioeconomic status

1.8 Trends in prevalence of smoking by country of birth

1.9 Prevalence of tobacco use among Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders

1.10 Prevalence of smoking in other high risk sub-groups of the population

1.11 Prevalence of use of different types of tobacco product

1.12 Future smoking rates?

1.13 International comparisons of prevalence of smoking

Acknowledgments

References

According to Census data, about three out of every 10 Australian residents were born overseas, and about two in 10 Australians speak a language other than English at home.68

There is considerable variation in prevalence of smoking among individuals born in different countries who have migrated to Australia. Table 1.814 shows that the highest rates of smoking occur among migrants from "Other Oceania" (comprising New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia, but excluding Hawaii69), and North Africa and the Middle East. It should be noted that in some of the regions listed below, smoking is predominantly a male behaviour, but since the data in Table 1.8 do not include a break down by gender, any sex differential in smoking is not apparent.

People migrating to Australia after 1996 are slightly less likely to be smokers than those arriving prior to 1996, and are also less likely to smoke than the Australian population as a whole (Table 1.2). In households where the main language spoken at home is English, the prevalence of smoking is higher than in those in which another language is spoken. These findings have been confirmed by the National Drug Strategy Household Survey for 2004.20

As well as concealing sex differences, the regional summaries provided in Table 1.8 are likely to disguise higher smoking rates within some smaller population sub groups. For example studies have shown that in the Arab-speaking population in Sydney, more than 50% of both males and females smoke,70 that among the Sydney-based Lebanese community, about 49% of males and 29% of females are smokers,71 and that male members of the Vietnamese community in Sydney have smoking rates of 53%.72

Although adult prevalence of smoking is higher in some groups with a non-English speaking background (NESB), studies from New South Wales have consistently shown that children within these families have a lower prevalence of smoking than their counterparts from English-speaking homes.73-75 See Chapter 5 for further discussion.

For more information on smoking among people of culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds see Chapter 9. Cessation programs designed to suit the needs of CaLD groups are discussed in Chapter 7.