The amount of smokers in the Chinese capital has reached an all-time low of 19.9 per cent, reports The Beijinger.

China passed an indoor smoking ban back in 2015 and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Public Health has conducted four major surveys since then. The latest survey shows that 19.9 per cent of people over the age of 15 smoke, which is 0.4 per cent less than in the last survey conducted in 2019. According to the survey, since the more stringent smoking regulations were put in place, the number of smokers in Beijing has dropped by 630,000, reports The Beijinger.
In comparison with the rest of the country, Beijing has a lower smoking rate than China as a whole (25.8 per cent) but a slightly higher rate than Shanghai (19.7 per cent). Globally, Beijing has a lower smoking rate than Paris (21 per cent) but a much higher rate than New York City (10.9 per cent).
While smoking may be on the decline in Beijing and only 2.7 per cent of women say they smoke, the survey shows numbers remain high for the male population with more than one in three men still smoking.
According to The Beijinger, second-hand smoke remains a problem, which is largely down to enforcement issues. Restaurants owners say they are rarely any spot checks on smoking and smoking in office buildings has also not been fully eradicated.