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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Cait Kelly

Australia’s teenage smoking rates rise for first time in 25 years, research reveals

Smoking Australia Vaping Emily Banks Cancer
Cigarettes displaying health warnings behind a shop counter
Health experts are concerned decades of work to reduce teenage smoking rates is now being undone. Photograph: Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

The proportion of teenagers smoking has increased for the first time in 25 years in a situation health experts have labelled “alarming”.

Data analysed by Cancer Council Victoria’s Centre for Behavioural Research in Cancer (CBRC) has revealed a threefold increase in the proportion of 14 to 17-year-olds smoking tobacco in the past four years, from 2.1% in 2018 to 6.7% in 2022.

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