Characteristics of the study sample
| Smoking prevalence (%) | Happiness index* | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Characteristics | Categories | Never | Current smoker | Ex-Smoker | N | Mean (SD) | N |
| Age (year) | 18–29 | 62.5 | 28.0 | 9.6 | 5023 | 7.0 (1.8) | 4965 |
| 30–39 | 59.2 | 32.1 | 8.7 | 3403 | 6.7 (1.9) | 3359 | |
| 40–49 | 61.2 | 29.8 | 9.0 | 3372 | 6.3 (2.0) | 3325 | |
| 50–59 | 64.9 | 25.0 | 10.1 | 2753 | 6.1 (2.0) | 2707 | |
| ≥60 | 73.9 | 13.4 | 12.7 | 3390 | 5.8 (2.2) | 3317 | |
| Sex | Male | 35.2 | 48.5 | 16.3 | 7796 | 6.5 (2.0) | 7686 |
| Female | 86.4 | 8.5 | 5.1 | 10 145 | 6.4 (2.1) | 9987 | |
| Marital status | Married or cohabiting | 62.4 | 27.0 | 10.6 | 11 106 | 6.6 (2.0) | 10 931 |
| Never married | 61.6 | 29.1 | 9.3 | 3675 | 6.7 (1.9) | 3637 | |
| Divorced or widowed | 73.5 | 18.0 | 8.6 | 3097 | 5.6 (2.2) | 3045 | |
| Education | High | 64.1 | 24.3 | 11.6 | 4923 | 6.8 (1.9) | 4855 |
| Middle | 62.7 | 27.7 | 9.6 | 10 637 | 6.4 (2.0) | 10 482 | |
| Low | 70.9 | 21.0 | 8.0 | 2338 | 6.0 (2.2) | 2294 | |
| Wealth | High | 58.2 | 28.7 | 13.1 | 5614 | 7.0 (1.8) | 5536 |
| Average | 64.8 | 26.3 | 8.9 | 6338 | 6.5 (2.0) | 6262 | |
| Low | 69.0 | 22.8 | 8.2 | 5989 | 5.9 (2.1) | 5875 | |
| Self-rated health | Good/fair | 62.2 | 27.9 | 9.9 | 14 585 | 6.7 (1.9) | 14 391 |
| Poor | 73.0 | 16.8 | 10.3 | 3302 | 5.4 (2.3) | 3231 | |
| Location | Urban | 61.6 | 27.6 | 10.8 | 10 816 | 6.4 (2.0) | 10 653 |
| Rural | 68.1 | 23.2 | 8.7 | 7125 | 6.4 (2.1) | 7020 | |
| Heavy episodic drinking† | No | 70.0 | 20.8 | 9.3 | 15 841 | 6.4 (2.0) | 15 587 |
| Yes | 20.4 | 64.4 | 15.1 | 2100 | 6.4 (1.9) | 2086 | |
| Country | Armenia | 66.0 | 28.1 | 6.0 | 1795 | 6.1 (1.7) | 1780 |
| Azerbaijan | 75.7 | 21.7 | 2.6 | 1799 | 6.2 (1.9) | 1785 | |
| Belarus | 58.2 | 26.1 | 15.7 | 1800 | 6.4 (1.8) | 1764 | |
| Georgia | 66.7 | 23.1 | 10.3 | 2196 | 6.4 (2.4) | 2154 | |
| Kazakhstan | 61.5 | 29.2 | 9.3 | 1796 | 7.1 (1.9) | 1795 | |
| Kyrgyzstan | 70.4 | 23.0 | 6.7 | 1798 | 6.8 (2.1) | 1787 | |
| Moldova | 69.5 | 19.9 | 10.6 | 1798 | 6.5 (2.1) | 1745 | |
| Russia | 56.2 | 31.4 | 12.5 | 2970 | 6.4 (1.9) | 2906 | |
| Ukraine | 58.6 | 27.3 | 14.1 | 1989 | 6.0 (2.1) | 1957 | |
*Happiness was assessed by the question “Taking all things together, how would you say things are these days—would you say you are?” with answers provided on a 10-point scale that ranged from ‘very unhappy’ (scored 1) to very happy (scored 10).
†Heavy episodic drinking was defined as consumption of at least one of the following on one occasion: ≥2 L of beer, ≥750 g of wine or ≥200 g of strong spirits.
Numbers of smoking and happiness variables differ slightly due to item non-response.