One of the prominent features of China's growing economy are the millions of smokers. They make up of a quarter of the world's smokers and consume one-third of the world's cigarettes, registering a growth rate of more than 10%. This voracious appetite for cigarettes is undergoing some subtle changes, refecting the country's social evolution. Nonetheless, these trends are not likely to decrease the Chinese addiction to smoking. Cigarettes are still commonly a means of exchange, and smoking is an important ritual at Chinese gatherings. In a recent survey, Beijing-based Horizon Research Consultancy Group pointed to a slowly declining percentage of the population who smoke in China, down to 30.3% at the end of 2006. However tobacco sales have been sustained by a slight increase in consumption per smoker, up to 19.31 cigarettes a day. The rate of decline in the smoking population was most pronounced in the four largest cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Wuhan. These four cities had lower cigarette consumption than their rural brethren, with 28.5% of their residents smoking on average 16.51 cigarettes a day. The survey also shows that smoking also correlates with education and age: the older and less educated are more likely to be smokers. However the most alarming development in China is the rapid increase in young female smokers in these four cities. Only 3.1% of Chinese women are smokers overall, but that is a marked increase from 2.6% in 2005 and nearly half of them are young, aged between 20 to 25. Chinese smokers are supporting the bottom line at the world's three largest tobacco companies: Philip Morris, British American Tobacco, and Japan Tobacco. Chinese smokers buy 42% of their total products, the survey said.

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