Daily tobacco smoking among those aged 14 and above dropped to 5.6% in 2025, down significantly from 8.3% in 2022\u201323, the data shows. The federal government\u2019s National Tobacco Strategy 2023\u20132030<\/a> had aimed for a national daily smoking prevalence of less than 10% by 2025, and now has a target of 5% or less by 2030.<\/p>\n The Cancer Council Australia\u2019s CEO, Jacinta Reddan, said the data also showed more than two-thirds of Australians aged 14 and above had never smoked \u2013 which was a historic high.<\/p>\n Illustration: AIHW<\/p>\n More than 17,500 people aged 14 and over across the country took part in the survey, held from June to December 2025.<\/p>\n Of those who reported that they smoke, 34% said they had recently used illicit tobacco, up from 16.7% in 2022-23.<\/p>\n Just over 22% of smokers said they had purchased branded illicit tobacco \u2013 without plain packaging and graphic health warnings \u2013 in the previous three months, while one in six said they smoke unbranded products (tobacco or cigarettes sold loose, often in plastic bags).<\/p>\n More than half (57%) of those who purchased branded illicit tobacco reported buying it from a tobacconist.<\/p>\n There have been previous reports<\/a> that rising illicit use indicated Australians were not quitting smoking tobacco. Many of the reports were based on wastewater data provided to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which reported overall nicotine use, including from vapes, pouches and smoking cessation products.<\/p>\n Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n The AIHW found overall nicotine use was declining. The proportion of people using any nicotine in 2025 fell to 15.2%, from 17.4% in 2022-23.<\/p>\n Cancer Council Australia praised some of the work done so far to bring smoking rates down.<\/p>\n \u201cPlain packaging, taxation, advertising restrictions and sustained public education on the harmful effects of smoking, which still kills 66 Australians every day, have seen smoking drop to among the lowest in the world,\u201d Reddan said.<\/p>\n The Public Health Association of Australia president, Prof Caroline Miller, said: \u201cWe\u2019ve got a decreasing proportion of the community who are smoking, and that\u2019s a real trend that we\u2019re observing across multiple surveys including state-based surveys.\u201d<\/p>\n She said the AIHW drugs survey \u201cis the best in the business, because it\u2019s used the same questions for decades, and is extensive with a sample size of more than 17,000 people\u201d.<\/p>\n The battle against illicit tobacco<\/p>\n Miller said the findings mean that tackling illicit tobacco \u201crequires an enforcement and regulatory response, not a tax cut\u201d.<\/p>\n Illustration: AIHW<\/p>\n Lobbyists with ties to the tobacco industry<\/a> along with economists and some politicians have argued that the high prices of legal cigarettes is driving people to the illicit market, and that the tobacco excise needs to be cut to curb this.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a>Free newsletter | When needed<\/p>\n Sign up to Breaking News Australia<\/p>\n Get the most important news as it breaks<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Prof Becky Freeman, a tobacco control expert with the University of Sydney\u2019s School of Public Health, said reducing the excise would not work.<\/p>\n \u201cIllicit tobacco is a problem,\u201d she said. \u201cBut if you\u2019re smoking illicit tobacco right now and it\u2019s so cheap and easy to buy from your friendly neighbourhood tobacconist, why would you pay more for legal ones even if the price does come down?<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense, especially when there\u2019s still room for those illicit products to get even cheaper. I don\u2019t think people realise just how inexpensive it is to manufacture illicit.\u201d<\/p>\n Freeman said more funding was needed for enforcement, and there needed to be changes to the way tobacco was sold, including stronger licensing schemes and a reduced number of retailers allowed to sell tobacco.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, this data suggests the time is right to change how we sell this product<\/a>,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no longer a need to have 40,000 retailers across the country selling it. We could just limit smoking and cigarette sales to a handful of retailers who can handle the tremendous responsibility of selling a highly dangerous, addictive and highly taxed product.\u201d<\/p>\n Fewer retailers would make enforcement easier, she said.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/2998.jpg\")
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