Child Smoking Rates Continue to Decline Over the Past Three Years

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) recorded a 0.12 percentage point decrease in the percentage of smokers aged ?18 years to 3.69% in 2021 compared to the previous year. This is the third consecutive year of decline.

According to age group, smoking among children aged 16-18 years recorded a decrease of 0.48 percentage points to 9.59% in 2021. This is the largest decrease compared to other age groups.

Smokers in the 13-15 age group recorded a decrease of 0.2 percentage points to 1.44% in 2021 compared to the previous year. This was followed by smokers in the 10-12 age group, which decreased by 0.06 percentage points to 0.07% from the previous year.

The percentage of smokers aged ?18 years briefly surged by 5.75 percentage points to 9.65% in 2018 from the previous year, as shown in the graph. This surge in the percentage of smokers was triggered by an increase of 11.28 percentage points in the percentage of smokers aged 16-18 years to 21.57% in 2021 from the previous year.

To curb the number of smokers, the government almost every year increases tobacco excise taxes, which triggers an increase in cigarette prices in the market. With the increase in tobacco excise taxes, government revenue from tobacco excise also increases.

In the 2023 State Budget (RAPBN), the government targets an increase in tobacco excise revenue of 9.45% to Rp245.4 trillion compared to the 2022 outlook of Rp224.2 trillion.