The study was conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology from 6 to 27 October 2014 and commissioned by the NGO "Center for Civic Representation of  "Life". Field stage lasted from 9 to 18 October 2014. The survey was conducted in 110 settlements in all regions of Ukraine, except the Crimea. In Lugansk region surveys were conducted only on the territory controlled by Ukraine. In Donetsk region surveys were conducted in areas controlled and uncontrolled Ukraine. As a result, the field phase was collected 2,025 questionnaires.

November 20, World No Tobacco Day, the public presented the results of All-Ukrainian poll of public opinion, conducted by the Kiev International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) in October 2014, with questions about the prevalence of smoking, level of quitting and consumption of illegal cigarettes.

The survey data were compared with answers to similar questions in the omnibus, held in February 2013, as well as past surveys of representative selection of the Ukrainian population.

The main results of the survey:

• Daily smoking decreased nearly 3 percent (from 45% to 42%) among and nearly 2 percent (from 11 to 9%) among women in general.

• Tendency of smoking decrease is most notable among people younger than 30 years – policies influenced the decrease number of young people who start smoking.  In addition, the percentage of smokers among men older than 60 years reduced, mainly due to the premature death from diseases caused by smoking.

• The quantity of the former smokers has no stable increasing behavior. It rises during the most active measures of tobacco control and then goes down. This regularity shows that there’s no need for stopping the tobacco smoking. 12, 3% of men (14, 3% in 2013) and 2, 7% of women (2, 1% in 2013) identify themselves as former smokers.

• The quantity of people, who identify themselves as non-smokers (those, who have never smoked or tried to smoke, but gave up), has been increasing since 2005, when the first effective measures of tobacco control had been used.

• The level of cigarette consumption per day has not changed among the men (16, 8 cigarettes per day in 2013, and 16, 4 ones in 2014), but increased among the women – from 10, 5 cigarettes per day to 11, 9 ones. This could mean that those women, who continue to smoke, at the average are more dependent on nicotine, than those, who gave up smoking.

• Level marking foreign cigarettes which may be partially contraband almost unchanged – 5, 4% (2014), compared with 5, 6% (2013). This means that the level of cigarette smuggling remains low. It is not consistent with the claims of tobacco corporations on smuggling growth in Ukraine.

• Average maximum retail price, which is written on the packs of cigarettes, increased in 1, 36 times: from 8, 95 UAH in February 2013 to 12, 21 UAH in October 2014. It is the most powerful incentive for changing of smoking behavior. Redistribution of smokers on price segments of cigarettes significantly among men older than 30 years.

For more information about the dynamics of the prevalence of smoking, tobacco consumption, policy measures can be found in the second national report, generalized the situation at the end of 2013 (Second National Report "Tobacco control in Ukraine." 2014 http://moz.gov.ua / docfiles / Zvit-tutun-control2.pdf).

Contact: Oksana Totovitskaya, Center for Civic Mission of "Life", 0632617405, (044) 279 68 83, smokefreeukraine@center-life.org