Table 1

Comparisons between Japan, China and South Korea in the status of active smoking

	Japan		China		South Korea
	Men	Women	Men	Women	Men	Women	Definitions and notes
Adult prevalence, %* (current smoking)
20–29 years	34.2	12.8	33.6	0.7	47.3	7.4	J: Having smoked 100 cigarettes or more in their lifetime and currently daily or sometimes smoking (2010) C: Currently smoking (daily or less than daily) (2010) K: Having smoked 100 cigarettes or more in their lifetime and currently smoking (2010)
30–39 years	42.1	14.2	59.3	1.6	60.9	7.6
40–49 years	42.4	13.6			53.6	6.6
50–59 years	40.3	10.4	63.0	3.2	45.0	5.2
60–69 years	27.4	4.5	40.2	6.7	30.8	2.9
Total (20–69 years)	36.7	10.4	52.9	2.4	48.3	6.3
Adult prevalence, %* (former smoking)
20–29 years	5.2	5.4	2.6	0.2	10.2	8.5	J: Having smoked 100 cigarettes or more in their lifetime and currently non-smoking (2009) C: Having ever smoked and currently non-smoking (2007) K: Having smoked 100 cigarettes or more in their lifetime and currently non-smoking (2010)
30–39 years	16.2	11.4	5.0	0.3	21.5	6.8
40–49 years	22.2	7.0	7.3	0.3	28.3	2.9
50–59 years	28.5	7.4	10.8	0.7	40.1	1.5
60–69 years	34.5	5.0	16.4	1.3	51.9	2.9
Total (20–69 years)	23.7	7.2	7.2	0.5	29.8	4.9
Youth prevalence, %† (monthly ever smoking)
13 years	1.5	1.1	7.7	2.0	6.2	3.5	J: Having smoked 1 day or more during past month (2008) C: Having smoked during past month (excluding those who reported trying to smoke or having smoked one cigarette if they did not currently smoke) (2005) K: Having smoked 1 day or more during past month (2010)
14 years	3.3	2.1	11.6	3.0	11.5	5.5
15 years	3.9	2.6	14.2	3.3	13.9	6.4
16 years	6.8	3.8	25.1	4.6	19.8	9.1
17 years	9.9	4.4	26.0	4.8	21.2	9.3
18 years	12.9	5.3	25.9	4.3	26.6	8.6
Youth prevalence, %† (habitual smoking)
13 years	0.3	0.3	1.4	0.1	1.2	0.8	J: Having smoked 20 days or more during past month (2008) C: Having smoked 20 days or more during past month (excluding those who reported trying to smoke or having smoked one cigarette if they did not currently smoke) (2005) K: Having smoked 20 days or more during past month (2010)
14 years	1.3	0.6	2.6	0.3	4.1	1.6
15 years	1.6	0.7	4.2	0.4	7.5	2.8
16 years	3.5	1.4	9.3	0.6	11.9	4.9
17 years	5.8	2.4	10.5	0.7	15.0	5.6
18 years	8.7	2.9	11.4	0.8	21.0	5.5
Average age at smoking initiation*
20–29 years	17.5	18.7	17.6	19.6	17.9	18.0	J: Among ever smokers (current or former habitual smokers) (2003) C: Among ever smokers (having smoked 100 cigarettes or more in their lifetime) (2007) K: Among ever smokers (having smoked 100 cigarettes or more in their lifetime) (2010)
30–39 years	18.2	20.0	18.6	22.0	18.5	20.6
40–49 years	18.9	23.1	19.1	25.6	19.4	26.0
50–59 years	19.9	28.9	20.3	25.3	20.1	33.1
60–69 years	20.6	32.7	21.9	28.7	20.8	32.5
Total (20–69 years)	17.3	18.3	19.1	23.6	19.3	25.5

*For China, age categories are 15–24 years, 25–44 years, 45–64 years, 65+ years, and 15+ years old, from the top to bottom. For South Korea, the categories ‘20–29 years’ and ‘20–69 years’ represent 19–29 years and 19–69 years, respectively.
†The ages correspond to the grades in school, from first year of junior high school to third year of high school.
C, China; J, Japan; K, South Korea; N/A, not available.