Table 5.
Current smoking status* among Malaysian adults 1996-2015
| Social-demographic characteristics |
Smoking prevalence |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | 2006 | 2011 | 2015 | |
| OVERALL | 24.8 (24.1-25.4) | 21.5(21.0-22.0) | 23.1(21.2-25.2) | 22.8(21.9-23.8) |
| Location | ||||
| Urban | 21.3(20.5-22.2) | 19.0(18.3-19.6) | 22.4(19.9-24.1) | 21.2(20.1-22.4) |
| Rural | 28.0(27.1-29.0) | 26.2(25.4-27.0) | 24.2(21.9-26.6) | 27.9(26.3-29.6) |
| Sex | ||||
| Male | 48.2(47.1-49.4) | 46.4(45.5-47.4) | 43.9(40.6-47.3) | 43.0(41.4-44.6) |
| Female | 3.4(3.1-3.8) | 1.6(1.5-1.8) | 1.0(0.7-1.6) | 1.4(1.1-1.8) |
| Age group** | ||||
| 15-24 | 20.9(19.5-22.3) | 23.3(22.0-24.3) | 16.6(13.5-20.3) | 19.5(17.8-19.5) |
| 25-44 | 24.2(23.3-25.0) | 23.4(22.7-24.1) | 28.9(25.9-32.0) | 28.3(26.9-29.8) |
| 45-64 | 26.8(25.7-27.9) | 19.4(18.6-20.1) | 22.5(19.7-25.7) | 20.1(19.0-21.3) |
| 65+ | 25.8(23.9-27.8) | 16.6(15.3-17.9) | 13.9(10.3-18.5) | 11.5(9.8-13.4) |
| Ethnicity | ||||
| Malays | 27.5(26.6-28.4) | 24.0(23.4-24.7) | 24.3(21.9-27.0) | 24.7(23.6-25.9) |
| Chinese | 18.8(17.7-19.9) | 16.2(15.3-17.2) | 15.3(11.9-19.4) | 14.2(12.7-15.9) |
| Indians | 15.9(14.2-17.9) | 13.7(12.4-15.0) | 19.2(13.9-26.0) | 16.5(14.0-19.4) |
| Other Bumiputras | 29.7(28.2-31.3) | 24.8(23.4-26.2) | 29.9(25.1-35.2) | 25.8(23.4-28.4) |
| Marital status | ||||
| Single | 26.1(24.7-27.6) | 26.7(25.7-27.8) | 24.9(21.7-28.5) | 23.6(21.9-25.3) |
| Married | 24.8(24.1-25.5) | 21.2(20.7-21.7) | 22.9920.6-25.3) | 23.8(22.8-24.9) |
| Widow/widower/divorcee | 16.2(14.7-17.9} | 9.3(8.2-10.3) | 12.1(8.8-16.4) | 9.7(8.0-11.8) |
| Education level | ||||
| No formal education | 21.(20.1-22.9) | 15.3(14.1-16.6) | 19.4(15.6-23.9) | 21.5(17.7-26.0) |
| Primary | 27.7(26.7-28.8) | 21.9(21.1-22.7) | 23.8(20.6-27.4) | 25.2(23.3-27.2) |
| Secondary | 25.(24.4-26.2) | 24.1(23.4-24.8) | 25.1(22.3-28.1) | 25.8(24.5-27.1) |
| Tertiary | 17.1(15.4-18.9) | 14.2(13.0-15.4) | 15.3(11.6-19.9) | 14.9(13.6-16.3) |
| Occupation | ||||
| Government/semi-government | 28.7(26.8-30.6) | 23.1(21.7-24.6) | 25.5(20.8-30.9) | 23.1(20.6-25.8) |
| Private | 31.3(30.0-32.6) | 29.9(29.1-30.8) | 34.3((30.6-38.2) | 31.7(29.9-33.6) |
| Self-employed | 39.2(37.7-40.7) | 35.6(34.4-36.7) | 44.6(39.3-50.0) | 35.4(33.2-37.6) |
| Unpaid worker/homemaker | 8.4(7.8-9.0) | 6.7(6.3-7.0) | 5.4(4.1-7.6) | 2.1(1.5-2.90) |
| Retiree | 32.9(29.0-37.1) | 17.7(11.7-25.8) | 19.3(16.0-23.2) | |
| Income level (a) | ||||
| less than RM 1000 | 25.7(24.8-26.5) | 24.2(23.4-25.0) | ||
| RM 1000-RM1999 | 25.2(24.1-26.3) | 23.1(22.3-24.0) | ||
| RM 2000-RM2999 | 21.6(20.0-23.2) | 20.5(19.4-21.6) | ||
| RM 3000-RM3999 | 21.2(19.1-23.4) | 19.3(17.8-20.9) | ||
| RM 4000-RM4999 | 22.7(19.8-25.9) | 16.6(14.7-18.6) | ||
| RM 5000+ | 21.1(18.3-24.1) | 14.9(13.6-16.2) | ||
| Income level (b) | ||||
| Quintile 1 | 28.7(23.8-34.1) | 16.5(14.6-18.5) | ||
| Quintile 2 | 27.8(22.8-33.4) | 26.8(24.8-28.9) | ||
| Quintile 3 | 27.4(23.6-31.5) | 25.1(23.4-26.9) | ||
| Quintile 4 | 19.7(15.9-24.2) | 25.5(23.7-27.4) | ||
| Quintile 5 | 16.7(13.8-20.0) | 19.3(17.7-21.1) | ||
*
Definition of current smoker (a) Respondent who reported to be smoking at the time of the survey (b) Respondent who reported to have smoked 100 or more cigarettes in lifetime and smoked daily or some days in the past one month (c) Smoker who daily or occasionally smokes any tobacco product
**
Age Group For 1996 and 2006, only adults age 18 years and over were included in the study
***Income level Quintile 1 is the lowest and Quintile 5 is the highest