Tobacco and Public Health - TCSC Indonesia

Chapter 12
Patterns of smoking in Russia
David Zaridze
Russia is the fourth largest cigarette market in the world, and one of the fastest-growing.
Russians consume about 300 billion cigarettes a year. According to official statistics in
1985 Russians consumed 240 billion cigarettes.
The smoking rate in Russia was already quite high in mid-1980s, 46–48% among
men and 3–12% among women (The principal investigators. The MONICA Project
1989). Since then smoking rates in men increased by about 10–15% and the rates in
women have at least doubled. In the survey carried out in Karelia in 1992 (Puska et al.
1993), highest smoking rates were recorded among people aged 25–34 years, 77% and
20% in men and women, respectively. Proportion of smokers among men aged 35–44
and 45–54 was 61% and 68% respectively. In women, in these age groups smoking
rates were lower, 13% and 3%, respectively. Lowest rates were observed in those aged
55–64 years, 57% in men and 3% in women (Table 12.1).
The results of the survey undertaken by the Russian Centre for Public Opinion
Research in 1996, which covered 69 urban and rural areas and included 1599
interviews have shown that smoking is common in all areas of Russia (McKee et al.
1998). Among men aged 18–24 years, 65% smoked, rising to 73% in those aged
25–34 and falling steadily to reach 41% in those aged 65 years and older. Among
women, smoking was much more common among young (27% in those aged
18–34) than among middle aged and elderly (5% in those aged 55+) (Table 12.1).
Smoking was much more common among living in urban areas than in rural areas.
Differences in smoking rates were more pronounced for women: 30%, 15–18%, 13%,
and 9% among women living in Moscow, in other cities, in small towns, and rural
areas, respectively.
Highest rates of smoking in women were recorded in Moscow (Levshin et al. 1998).
According to this study 31% and 28% of women in the age 20–30 and 30–39 smoked.
Among men of the same age groups 66 and 69% were smokers (Table 12.1). Kamardina
et al. (2002) have recently reported very high rates of smoking among women
in Moscow: 29% of women in the age 25–64 years are smokers. In the survey
of Oganov and Tkachenko (2001) 63% of men and 10% of women in Moscow smoke.
However smoking rates are much higher in men (74%) and women (25%) aged
30–35 years.