'Quit smoking' becomes a less-sought New Year's resolution for Koreans: report

Quitting smoking, once among the top New Year's resolutions in South Korea, has become less of a priority as only one out of 10 Koreans said they planned to quit smoking within the first month of 2026.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency's annual report on public health, 12.7 percent of the smokers said they planned to quit smoking within one year, down from 13.1 percent response in the previous year. The response rate for male smokers decreased by 1.1 percentage points compared to the 2023 report to 12.4 percent, while the percentage of female smokers wanting to quit increased from 10.7 percent to 15 percent in the same period.

Far more men smoke in South Korea than women, with the male smoking rate in 2024 being at 28.5 percent while the female rate was 4.2 percent.

The percentage of Koreans aiming to quit smoking has been on a downward trend since peaking at 25.5 percent in 2015, when the price for a pack of cigarettes rose from 2,500 won ($1.70) to 4,500 won. The figure was 7.1 percent in the first survey in 2001, hovered around the 20 percent mark from 2007 to 2014, soared to 24.7 percent in 2014, and has been mostly declining since 2015.

The year 2024 marked the fourth consecutive year with a decrease in the number of Koreans wanting to quit smoking.

Smokers aged 30-39 in particular were less willing to quit, as 9.4 percent of them said they had plans to stop smoking. This was the lowest figure for this age group since 7.7 percent, the only time the number in this group dropped to a single digit.

The 19-29 group was most open to stopping smoking, with their affirmative response rate leading all age groups at 16.3 percent.

About half of the respondents (47.8 percent) said they actually tried quitting for at least 24 hours in the past year. A gender disparity was observed in this category, as 55.6 percent of the women reported trying to quit in the past, compared to 46.7 percent of men.