Big Rise in Female Smokers

Hong Kong Women take to cigarettes in large numbers...

Monday 30 October 2006

Slimline cigarettes, feminine packaging and tobacco company marketing smoking as being stylish for women have apparently led to a huge increase in the number of female smokers in Hong Kong. Combine this with a wave of feminist sentiment in the region that pushes women to do as men do, just to make the point that they believe they should be able to and you have a population of women that smell like an ash tray, it would seem.

Overall, the number of smokers in Hong Kong is falling and actually dropped by 15 percent from 1998 to 2006. However, the number of youngsters taking up the habit remains very high.

Just to clarify how serious the problem is, the official figures form the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department show that the number of male smokers actually fell by six percent in the last eight years. However, the number of women smokers soared by 45 percent in the same period to a total of 114,300 (up from 78,800 in 1998).

This article may not be reproduced without permission from Orient Expat.

Need advice? Got a question? Go to our Hong Kong Forum