Netherlands National Drug Monitor - Research and Documentation ...

Age and Gender
Smokers start young.
• In 2007, 7% of pupils in the two most senior years of primary school had ever
smoked. Of pupils attending mainstream secondary schools, 39% had ever smoked.
These figures reflect the average; the percentage rises with age (Figure 8.3).
• Nearly a fifth (19%) of secondary school pupils had smoked in the past month.
• These percentages, too, increase as the pupils get older. In the oldest age group (17
and 18), around one third (34%) were current smokers, compared to 4% of 12 year
olds and 10% of thirteen year olds.
• Almost the same number of boys (19%) as girls (18%) had smoked in the past
month.
Figure 8.3 Smoking in school-goers aged 10 and older, by age. Survey year 2007
70
%
62
60
50
49
52
40
39
34
30
27
26
26
20
15
19
10
7
1
4
10
PS 12 yrs 13 yrs 14 yrs 15 yrs 16 yrs 17-18 yrs
Ever
Current
Percentage of current (past month) and lifetime (ever). PS = primary schools
Source: Dutch National School Survey, Trimbos Institute.
Extent of smoking
• Current smokers among school-goers smoke the following amount per day on
average: 40% smoke less than one cigarette daily, and a fifth smoke more than ten
a day.
• Seven percent of school-goers smoked daily in 2007 – around the same as in 2003.
Between 1999 and 2003 the percentage of daily smokers dropped from 13 to 9
percent.
• Over a third of daily smokers (35%) smoked more than ten a day in 2007.
8 Tobacco
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