angor532,

Younger Australians are actually in the same boat as Europeans.

Boomers are in a lower % demographic for smoking.

Covid-19 the "Boomer Remover" as my children sarcastically quip when I'm out of line may be of greater concern to younger age groups given Asthma (11% ave) and Smoking percentages should not be ignored.

https://www.heartfoundation.org.au/about-us/what-we-do/heart-disease-in-australia/smoking-statistics

Smoking statistics

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In 2014/2015, one in seven (14%) Australians aged 15 years and over smoked daily, with an additional 2% smoking irregularly. This represents 2.5 million Australians who smoke daily, with more than 200,000 smoking irregularly.

Three in ten (30%) Australians reported ex-smokers, with over half having never smoked (55%).

Smoking by gender

In 2014/15, Australian males aged 15 and over were more likely to smoke than females.

More than 1.6 million Australian males aged 15 and over smoked, 90% of which smoked daily. More than 1.2 million Australian females aged 15 and over smoked, 91% of which smoked daily.

Smoking by age and gender

In males, the prevalence of smoking was highest amongst those aged 25-34 years.

Smoking status in females increased in the 45-54 year age-group.

	Age	Male	Female
15–17	5.3%	2.8%
18–24	16.2%	17.3%
25–34	25.5%	14.2%
35–44	22.2%	14.1%
45–54	20.7%	17.2%
55–64	18.3%	12.9%
65–74	11.1%	6.9%
75+	4.0%	4.5%

Change in smoking status over time

Compared to 2001, the proportion of Australians aged 15 and over smoking has fallen by 36%. As a result there are more than one million fewer smokers.

Socio-demographic status

		2001	2004/05	2007/08	2011/12	2014/15
Smoker (total)	24.2%	23.3%	20.1%	17.4%	15.5%
Smoker (males)	27.2%	26.2%	22.2%	19.5%	18.2%
Smoker (females)	21.2%	20.2%	18.0%	15.3%	12.8%

In 2014/15, Australians living in regional/remote locations those who were unemployed and those who were most disadvantaged were significantly more likely to smoke.

Smoking by socio-demographic status

			%
Country of birth	Australia Born overseas	17.1% 11.7%
Main lanuage spoken at home	English Language other than English	16.3% 9.6%
Labour force	Employed Unemployed	16.1% 26.7%
Index of disadvantage	Most disadvantaged Least disadvantaged	21.0% 7.3%
Remoteness	Major cities Regional and remote	14.2% 20.7%

Smoking by location

In 2014/15, the prevalence of smoking amongst Australians 15 years and over was lowest in the ACT, South Australia and Victoria. Prevalence of smoking was highest in the Northern Territory.

Smoking by location

	State/territory	%
Northern Territory	21.6%
Tasmania	18.5%
Queensland	16.2%
Western Australia	15.8%
Victoria	14.8%
South Australia	14.1%
New South Wales	15.4%
Australian Capital Territory	13.1%

References

1. Australian Bureau of Statistics. Australian Health Survey 2014/15 (4364.0)