This publication describes trends in smoking prevalence, smoking initiation and smoking cessation (quitting) among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population during the 20 year period from 1994 to 2014–15. Comparisons with trends for the non-Indigenous population during the period 1995 to 2014–15 are included where relevant. The key findings are as follows.
- Smoking prevalence decreased among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 18 years and over from 1994 to 2014–15.
- Smoking initiation, as indicated by smoking prevalence among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 15–17 years, also decreased over the same period. The annual decrease was faster for the period 2008 to 2014–15 than for the period 1994 to 2004–05, which suggests it is possible that increasing attention to and specific funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tobacco control since 2008 is having an impact.
- Successful smoking cessation (quitting) increased among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples aged 18 years and over from 2002 to 2014–15, as indicated by increases in the ratio of the number of adults who had successfully quit smoking as a proportion of the number of adults who had ever smoked. Increases were faster for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in non-remote areas than in remote areas.
- There appears to have been no change to the gap between smoking prevalence in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adult population and the non-Indigenous adult population during the 20 years to 2014–15, which was around 30 percentage points.