Smoking in Turkey

Abstract

This chapter describes patterns of smoking behavior from 1928 to 2008 for seven cohorts of men and women living in Turkey and briefly reviews some of the more salient political, economic, and historical events that occurred during this period. The data show that rates of smoking prevalence were and are uniformly high among Turkish men but increased as Turkey’s economy boomed. Very few women smoked in older cohorts of Turkish women, but rates dramatically increased—at a time that coincided with both economic development and the changes in social norms about women. In recent cohorts of men and women, the initiation age is decreasing, but the rate of smoking prevalence is declining especially among men—a trend that may be explained by new tobacco control policies.