Health Awareness and Bans

The FINANCIAL — 9 out of 10 Georgians agree that smoking is detrimental to your health, but there are still a number of Georgians who smoke (that number is 23%), and even more who do not fully understand the health risks involved in tobacco.

This results in fairly low support for anti-smoking measures such as increasing the price of cigarettes or adding warning pictures on packs.  However, even with these gaps in public health awareness, a full 90% of Georgians believe there should be some places that cigarettes smoking is regulated or banned.

In a recent EU-funded study conducted by Georgian Opinion Research Business International, respondents from Georgia and abroad were asked questions on a series of topics related to health attitudes and practices in transitional countries.  Along with all the other countries polled there are certain particulars about the health effects of tobacco that are not universally understood in Georgia. 

Health Awareness — It is the position of the WHO, and for that matter every other reputable international health organization, that so called “light cigarettes” are no healthier than their “full flavored” counterparts.  In fact, due largely to legislation in the US, most major international brands no longer ship cartons with “light,” “ultra-light,” or other labels that imply a somehow healthier cigarette. While there is no misunderstanding in the public’s mind that smoking is unhealthy, there are still many people who believe light cigarettes are somehow better for you.  37% of Georgians agreed with the statement that light cigarettes are healthier.

Respondents were asked about the health effects of passive smoking, also known as second hand smoke.  Again, Georgians were not much more or less aware of the risks of passive smoking than others.  About 10% of Georgians believe that there are little to no health risks associated with passive smoke, and 79% understand that it can have negative long term effects, regardless of age. 

Armenians are the least informed of those polled; 1 in 5 Armenians believe that passive smoking has little or no influence on health and 40% think that light cigarettes are healthier.  Contrarily, Moldovans are the most informed; only 27% are mistaken that “light” means healthier, and almost 90% know that passive smoking is bad for all.

Public Policy Preference — While Georgians didn’t get a perfect score for health awareness in this survey, one area they surprise is in their desire for smoking regulation in restaurants, cafés, etc. Perhaps this position is related to comfort and atmosphere rather than to health, but only 10% of Georgians said that there should be no ban on smoking in these businesses. 

The concept of dividing a space into smoking and nonsmoking sections is the most popular ban option with 61% approval, but there is no consensus on proportionality.  Of those supporting a division, most want equal space for smokers, but nearly as many want smaller areas for smoking, thus leaving the rest of the bar or café to nonsmokers.  Still nearly a third of all Georgians would like to see a complete ban on smoking.

Two questions were asked of each respondent to classify them as smokers, ex-smokers or nonsmokers.  First, they answered whether they smoke at least one cigarette a day. Those that answered “no” were asked if they ever smoked regularly in the past.  The relationships between these groups’ responses are as you would expect. Smokers were a little less willing to believe their habit is unhealthy, more likely to hold mistaken beliefs about tobacco, and less appreciative of public policies to curb smoking.  Here smokers also displayed their rational self-interest, more disagreeing with a total ban than nonsmokers.  However, smokers still would prefer a division of space over not having a ban at all. 

All in all, Georgians have a decent grasp on the health risks of smoking.  While this doesn’t seem to translate into universal abstinence from tobacco, it at least has encouraged support for limiting the public’s exposure to passive smoke in cafes and restaurants.

This study polled 16,200 people in 8 countries, giving the data margins of error of 2-2.5% at a 95% confidence interval.