Preventing tobacco use

Two middle aged women sitting on a park bench.

Tobacco smoking is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in Victoria. It costs 4000 lives and $5 billion each and every year.

World-leading innovation – led by VicHealth in partnership with Quit Victoria, the Department of Health and others – has halved the rate of Victorians who smoke regularly to an all-time low.

VicHealth was established in 1987 with a tax on tobacco, pledged as part of the Victorian Tobacco Act of that year. Since then, we have been a leading light in the fight for a healthier, smoke-free Victoria.

Preventing tobacco use was one of the five strategic imperatives identified for action to improve the health of all Victorians. A 10-year goal was set that 400,000 more Victorians would be tobacco-free by 2023.

Preventing uptake, promoting and supporting cessation, and reducing people's exposure to second-hand tobacco smoke are the key pillars to reducing harm from tobacco in Victoria.

Adult smoking rates

The most recent data (2018) shows that 10.7% of Victorian adults regularly smoke, down from 13.5% in 2015.

Despite the achievements in reducing overall smoking prevalence in the general Victorian population, smoking rates are higher among the most socially and economically disadvantaged groups. As such, a key focus of our current investment in Quit Victoria is to engage with partners to increase the reach and impact of smoking cessation within high smoking rate populations.