Tobacco consumption among youth in Thailand between 2004 and 2009

Abstract

This research was designed to study tobacco consumption among youth in two subgroups in
Thailand (15-18 and 19-24 years) by gender and by region in 2004, 2007 and 2009. It is based on a database
from three national surveys conducted by the National Statistics Office, Thailand. The surveys of smoking
and drinking behavior in 2004 and 2007 and health and welfare in 2009 were used to describe the smoking patterns of 15-18 year-olds and 19-24 year-olds by gender and by region. The results show that the
smoking rate among Thai youth in the 15-18 age group increased from 6.58% in 2004 to 7.25% in 2007
and to 7.62% in 2009. In the 19-24 age group, the smoking rate increased from 20.92% in 2004 to 21.27%
in 2007 and to 22.19% in 2009. The rate of male smoking increased to 14.36% in the 15-18 age group and
to 42.96% in the 19-24 age group, with the largest increases in the southern and northeastern regions. The
rate of smoking among young females varied between 0.10% and 1.29% during the period 2004-2009. It is
alarming that more young females in Bangkok in the 15-18 age group (smoking rate 2.05%) smoked than
in the 19-24 age group (smoking rate 0.94%).
The results show that tobacco consumption in the 15-18 and 19-24 age groups in Thailand has increased.
There has been a trend towards increased tobacco consumption among some groups of young people in
Thailand. In particular, smoking among females aged 15-18 years and males aged 19-24 years increased
in all regions. However, there are specific local patterns of smoking within these two age groups. Thus,
tobacco control efforts should focus on increasing the efficiency of measures in specific target groups in order
to reduce the number new smokers (aged less than 24), especially males in the southern and northeastern
regions and young females in Bangkok.