Rural Kazakhstan records higher smoking rate than cities – Statistics Bureau
The share of smokers is higher in rural Kazakhstan, than in urban areas, according to the 2026 Adult Tobacco Survey, released by the Bureau of National Statistics, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The annual survey, carried out in January 2026, covered one person aged 15 and older from 12,000 households across all regions of Kazakhstan, as well as in Astana, Almaty, and Shymkent cities.
The survey found that 15.1% of the country's population currently uses tobacco, down by 2.4 percentage points from 17.5% in 2025.
17.8% of rural residents use tobacco, against 14% in urban areas. Among men, 30.5% reported using tobacco, versus 4.9% of women.
98.6% of smokers prefer manufactured cigarettes. E-cigarettes are used by 0.4% of smokers, heated tobacco systems such as IQOS and GLO – by 0.9%, and other types of tobacco products - by 0.1%.
The Bureau notes that the survey has been conducted annually since 2020 at the initiative of the Ministry of Healthcare, in accordance with the international methodology of the World Health Organization's Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS).
Earlier, Qazinform reported that the United Kingdom had approved landmark legislation that will prohibit the sale of tobacco to people born on or after January 1, 2009, as part of efforts to create a “smoke-free generation.”