Table 1

Ever* and current† use of tobacco products among South African adults, 2018 (n=18 208)

Category%Prevalence of ever use, % (95% CI)Prevalence of current use, % (95% CI)
Any tobacco‡
(n=14 701)
Cigarettes
(n=13 711)
Any tobacco
(n=5821)
Cigarettes
(n=5546)
Total10072.0 (70.4 to73.4)64.7 (63.0 to66.1)23.2 (22.1 to24.5)22.1 (21 to23.1)
Race/ethnicity
 Black Africans68.866.9 (64.7 to 69.0)58.5 (56.3 to 60.8)18.9 (17.4 to 20.7)18.0 (16.4 to 19.5)
 Coloured7.283.4 (80.1 to 86.4)77.3 (74.1 to 80.5)37.8 (34.6 to 40.9)36.2 (33.3 to 39.4)
 Indian/Asian2.880.9 (76.7 to 84.7)73.7 (68.6 to 78.3)31.3 (27.7 to 34.9)29.7 (26.1 to 33.1)
 Other1.381.8 (78.1 to 85.0)76.4 (72.4 to 80.1)24.0 (20.4 to 27.7)22.3 (18.8 to 26.0)
 White group19.983.7 (82.6 to 84.8)79.7 (78.6 to 80.9)31.6 (30.6 to 32.6)30.0 (28.9 to 31.1)
Gender
 Women52.263.1 (60.9 to 65.1)55.4 (53.1 to 57.8)18.5 (17.2 to 20.1)17.9 (16.5 to 19.3)
 Men47.781.8 (80.0 to 83.5)74.8 (72.8 to 76.9)28.3 (26.6 to 30.2)26.6 (24.9 to 28.5)
Age (years)
 18–2523.876.2 (72.7 to 79.4)63.5 (59.1 to 68.0)20.5 (17.6 to 24.0)19.7 (16.7 to 23.2)
 26–3527.274.0 (72.6 to 75.5)67.7 (66.1 to 69.2)27.2 (26 to 28.4)26.1 (24.8 to 27.4)
 36–4520.168.2 (65.6 to 70.6)62.3 (59.8 to 65.0)26.3 (24.4 to 28.2)25.0 (23.1 to 27.0)
 46–5514.064.1 (59.6 to 68.3)58.5 (54.0 to 63.1)24.2 (21.0 to 27.7)21.7 (18.6 to 24.8)
 56–659.472.3 (65.4 to 79.7)68.1 (60.3 to 74.9)19.9 (15.4 to 24.7)19.2 (14.9 to 24.8)
 66+5.578.2 (69.7 to 85.2)74.3 (65.7 to 81.2)7.3 (4.4 to 11.0)6.8 (4.2 to 10.1)
Income (ZAR)§
 None13.967.9 (62.3 to 73.0)58.5 (52.6 to 63.9)16.2 (12.6 to 20.7)15.5 (11.9 to 20.2)
 ≤1000014.673.4 (69.1 to 77.1)64.6 (59.6 to 69.0)23.3 (19.8 to 27.2)22.6 (19.2 to 26.2)
 ≤2000020.572.7 (69.7 to 75.6)65.7 (62.6 to 68.7)25.8 (23.5 to 28.1)24.8 (22.7 to 27.2)
 ≤3000013.272.8 (69.4 to 76.0)66.6 (62.7 to 70.4)23.7 (21.1 to 26.5)22.4 (19.8 to 25.1)
 ≤5000010.872.4 (68.3 to 76.4)65.4 (61.3 to 70.0)25.1 (22.3 to 28.5)23.3 (20.4 to 26.6)
 >5000020.674.4 (71.3 to 77.3)68.1 (64.9 to 71.4)25.3 (23.1 to 27.6)23.8 (21.5 to 26.2)
 Undisclosed6.365.8 (59.6 to 71.5)59.3 (53.9 to 65.0)19.1 (15.7 to 23.4)18.0 (14.6 to 22.2)
Health status
 Very good21.156.1 (52.3 to 59.7)46.0 (41.8 to 49.6)7.0 (5.9 to 8.2)6.3 (5.3 to 7.5)
 Good45.069.7 (67.4 to 72.1)62.9 (60.4 to 65.1)17.7 (16.4 to 19.0)16.7 (15.6 to 18.0)
 Moderate26.683.8 (81.4 to 86.1)77.4 (74.6 to 80.0)37.1 (34.4 to 39.9)35.7 (32.9 to 38.4)
 Bad5.192.4 (89.4 to 94.8)87.5 (83.6 to 91.0)60.2 (52.8 to 67.0)57.7 (50.9 to 64.1)
 Very bad2.284.8 (75.5 to 91.3)75.6 (64.8 to 84.0)38.7 (26.4 to 52.1)34.9 (23.2 to 48.9)
  • *Ever tobacco product use was defined as having used the specified tobacco product on at least one occasion during lifetime and included those who only experimented, former, occasional and regular users.

  • †Current tobacco product users were defined as those who self-identified as being a regular user of ‘smoke or smokeless’ products in general and also reported using the specified product class at any frequency at the time of the survey.

  • ‡Any tobacco product included cigarettes, cigars/pipes/ roll-your-own tobacco, e-cigarettes, and heat-not-burn, or any other ‘smoke or smokeless’ product.

  • §Each income category not inclusive of previous grouping (ie, mutually exclusive).

  • ZAR, South African rand.