Claim: While the smoking rate nationally has fallen, more than 18 percent of Georgians still light up.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Smoking in Greece
text: smoke-free environment on all school grounds across the country. Smoking in Greece Smoking in Greece was at the highest rate of tobacco consumption (more than 40%) in the European Union in 2010. In 2014, Greece had the highest rate of smoking in the European Union. According to a survey published by the European Commission Day for World No Tobacco Day in 2017, 37% of Greeks are smokers and only 44% of Greeks have never smoked a cigarette, the smallest percentage in the EU. After Greece, France and Bulgaria have the next largest number of smokers with 36%. At 7%, Sweden

title: Women and smoking
text: of cities, municipalities, and states have passed legislation prohibiting smoking in public places, such as bars, restaurants, and an assortment of other public venues. This is a growing phenomenon, which will help to reduce smoking rates in the United States. The overall smoking rate in the United States has dropped from approximately 46% in 1950 to approximately 21% in 2004. In Edo period or earlier than it, tobacco had come to Japan. were the main smokers among Japanese women by the early 19th century. In 2010 the Hamas-led Islamist government of Gaza imposed a ban on women smoking the popular

title: Health in Israel
text: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics, the smoking rate in the Israeli adult population in 2009 was 20.9%, down from 34% in 2000. A Ministry of Health nationwide survey conducted in 2011 found that 20.6% of the population aged 21 and older were smokers. The highest percentage of smokers was among Arab males, 44% percent of whom smoked, though this figure is down from 50% in 1996. In 2014 19.8% of adult Israelis smoked, 26.3% in the Arab population and 18.4% in the Jewish population. 35% of non-smoking respondents to the World Health Survey reported that they had been exposed to

title: Smoking in Greece
text: Smoking in Greece Smoking in Greece was at the highest rate of tobacco consumption (more than 40%) in the European Union in 2010. In 2014, Greece had the highest rate of smoking in the European Union. According to a survey published by the European Commission Day for World No Tobacco Day in 2017, 37% of Greeks are smokers and only 44% of Greeks have never smoked a cigarette, the smallest percentage in the EU. After Greece, France and Bulgaria have the next largest number of smokers with 36%. At 7%, Sweden had the lowest rate. 2010 Smoking Ban Since older

title: Cigarette
text: one-seventh of the world population. While smoking rates have leveled off or declined in developed nations, they continue to rise in developing parts of the world. Smoking rates in the United States have dropped by more than half from 1965 to 2016, falling from 42% to 15.5% of US adults. In the developing world, tobacco consumption is rising by 3.4% per year. Smoking rates in Australia have dropped 4.9% in the year that ended in March 2014. Consumption of cigarettes and tobacco dropped 7.6% in the first quarter in Australia, and 0.1% of the nation’s gross domestic product was clipped

title: Prevalence of tobacco use
text: basis among men older than 15 years, was approximately 19.4% and only 3.0% for women. Figures from 2013 show that proportion of the British population (UK excluding Northern Ireland) who smoke has fallen to 19%. The Health Survey for England in 2002 found a smoking rate of 26%. By 2007 the proportion of adult smokers in England had declined four percentage points to 22%. In 2015, it was reported smoking rates in England had fallen to only 16.9%, a record low. Overall, the numbers of smokers in the UK in 2007 was estimated at 13.7 million. The rate of smoking

title: Chronic disease in China
text: years. The decrease in smoking is the only encouraging risk factor trend, and is consistent with the plateau of tobacco consumption over this same period in the face of a rising adult population, as has occurred in other countries where tobacco taxes have been raised sharply. In 1999 the first Global Youth Tobacco Survey in China showed that 22% of students aged 13–15 years had ever tried to smoke; the current smoking rate was only 5%. China's first comprehensive survey in the fields of nutrition and health was done in 2002. 71,971 households were chosen from 132 counties of 31

title: Health in Iran
text: issues as their biggest worries. Iran has implemented a strict smoking ban in all public places. By 2007, smoking decreased to 11%. However, the rate of smokers in the general population increased again significantly in recent years. As of 2018, this rate stands at 14%. According to the new law, smoking is prohibited in all public organizations, hotels, restaurants, tea houses and coffee shops. Also forbidden is the offering and smoking of "ghalyun", the traditional Persian waterpipe, which is a must in Iranian tea houses. A smoking ban for all car drivers nationwide was implemented since March 2006, and although

title: Smoking in Finland
text: elements in the successful tobacco policy is the traditional collaboration between the health authorities and non-governmental organisations, and intensive health promotion. Smoking in Finland has reduced, the smoking rates among adults in Finland in 2009 stood at 18.6%, lower than the OECD average of 22.3%. In more recent study conducted in 2014 smoking rates for men was 17% and 14% for women. Despite the decreasing trend the health effects of tobacco smoking are considerable and smoking can still be considered as a public health issue since it is still a significant cause of avoidable premature death and illness. The sale

title: Smoking in Latvia
text: Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) in 2011 found that 40.5% of children in grades 7 through 9 reported current tobacco use, while 31.5% were smoking cigarettes. The percentage of children smoking tobacco decreased between the years of 2011 and 2014, where another GYTS survey indicated that 24.7% of youth from grades 7 through 9 regularly smoked tobacco. Currently, Latvia upholds the smoking standards set by the World Health Organization by following the FCTC MPOWER tobacco control methods. These measures include monitoring tobacco usage, protecting the public from passive smoking, offering the means to quit smoking, warning the public of the

title: Third-hand smoke
text: second-hand smoke. Third-hand smoke-contaminated surfaces like carpet, walls, and car interiors are also especially hard to clean whereas second-hand smoke can be removed with ventilation. Smoking rates in the United States have fallen considerably from a high of 42.4% in 1965 to around 17.8% in 2016. But the downward trend is slowing and it is estimated that 23% to 42% of adults in America with low education or living in poverty still smoke. This exposes millions of nonsmokers, many of which are children. Awareness campaigns for THS are steadily growing in number and primarily focus on the health risks for

title: Smoking ban
text: 84% higher than average." In the United States, the CDC reported a levelling-off of smoking rates in recent years despite a large number of ever more comprehensive smoking bans and large tax increases. It has also been suggested that a "backstop" of hardcore smokers has been reached: those unmotivated and increasingly defiant in the face of further legislation. The smoking ban in New York City was credited with the reduction in adult smoking rates at nearly twice the rate as in the rest of the country, "and life expectancy has climbed three years in a decade". In Sweden, use of

title: Tobacco (Last Week Tonight)
text: restrictions on smoking advertisements contributed to a decline in smoking rates among American adults, as only 18% of adults smoked in 2014, compared to 43% of adults in 1965. Oliver then shows a clip of a tobacco farmer saying, "This is the best time ever to be a tobacco farmer." The comedian says that while American smoking rates have gone down, smoking rates in the rest of the world have gone up. He displays a viral video of a chain smoking baby in Indonesia who reportedly threw tantrums when he did not get to smoke. Oliver then states that the

title: Smoking
text: From 1965 to 2006, rates of smoking in the United States have declined from 42% to 20.8%. A significant majority of those who quit were professional, affluent men. Despite this decrease in the prevalence of consumption, the average number of cigarettes consumed per person per day increased from 22 in 1954 to 30 in 1978. This paradoxical event suggests that those who quit smoked less, while those who continued to smoke moved to smoke more light cigarettes. This trend has been paralleled by many industrialized nations as rates have either leveled-off or declined. In the developing countries, however, tobacco consumption

title: Cannabis in Georgia (country)
text: over 100 people are drug tested by Georgian police daily. Following the 2006 strengthening of the drug laws, Georgia collected $11.3 million in drug-related fines in the first year. Beginning in 2013 there were calls from various advocacy groups and opposition politicians to decriminalize cannabis, but the government remained opposed. In October 2015, the Constitutional Court of Georgia ruled that the norm of the country's Constitution about imprisonment for personal use of cannabis was "too strict" and needed to be relaxed. In December 2016, the Court further declared that imprisonment for use of small amounts of cannabis, as well as

title: Smoking in Turkey
text: the highest rate among the 100 countries surveyed, along with Lebanon (41%), Greece (40%), and Cuba (40%) in descending order. The figure went down to 12% in females and 40% in males in 2015, according to World Bank. Turkey suffers from a severe and growing incidence of illicit tobacco consumption, spanning contraband and counterfeit tobacco products. In 2013 the estimated scale of illicit tobacco traffic in Turkey rose to 16.2 billion cigarettes per year. According to the World Health Organization this problem is exacerbated by weak governance and a lack of high-level commitment to investigate and prosecute these crimes, ineffective

title: Tobacco smoking
text: per day increased from 22 in 1954 to 30 in 1978. This paradoxical event suggests that those who quit smoked less, while those who continued to smoke moved to smoke more light cigarettes. The trend has been paralleled by many industrialized nations as rates have either leveled-off or declined. In the developing world, however, tobacco consumption continues to rise at 3.4% in 2002. In Africa, smoking is in most areas considered to be modern, and many of the strong adverse opinions that prevail in the West receive much less attention. Today Russia leads as the top consumer of tobacco followed

title: Smoking in Costa Rica
text: in 2012, there has been some improvement in smoking rates in the country. According to the Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) in 2015, 8.9% of the population smoked tobacco but 73% of those who smoked planned to quit. The effects of secondhand smoke were also fairly low. The amount of people exposed indoors while at the workplace was only 6.3% and only 4.9% were exposed in their own home. Another important change that many people have noticed is the increasing anti-tobacco advertisement. This includes television commercials and radio commercials. According to the GATS in 2015, seven in ten people noticed

title: Prevalence of tobacco use
text: cigarettes declined from 20.9 percent in 2005 to 16.8 percent in 2014. Cigarette smoking was significantly lower in 2014 (16.8 percent) than in 2013 (17.8 percent).” The CDC concluded this from data obtained by a survey of Americans. However, researchers said that they are not sure if products like e-cigarettes are in any way helpful to reduce smokers in the country. Around 4,000 minors start smoking in the US every day. The following is a list of countries by the percentage of age-standardized prevalence of tobacco smoking among persons 15 years and older in 2015 as published by the World

title: Smoking in South Africa
text: South African National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2012 only about 16.4% of South Africans smoked which is a substantial drop from 32% in 1993. This decrease is attributed to legislation which led to restrictions in advertisement, and an increase tobacco prices. However, a Youth Risk Behavior Survey found that 21% of students in grades 8-11 smoke. This shows little to no change between 2002 and 2008. In order to combat the dangers of smoking, legislation has been increasingly put into place in order to deter the public from smoking. Beginning in 1993 with the Tobacco Products Control Act,