Bureau of National statistics
Agency for Strategic planning and reforms of the Republic of Kazakhstan
Tobacco products are products made entirely or partially from tobacco leaf as raw materials, intended for smoking, sucking, chewing or sniffing. Types of tobacco products – a set of smoking and non-smoking tobacco products similar in consumer properties and method of consumption. These include cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos (cigarettes), cigarettes, hookah tobacco, thin-cut smoking tobacco, pipe tobacco, bidi, kretek, sucking tobacco (snus), chewing tobacco, snuff, nasvai and other tobacco products. They all contain a highly addictive psychoactive ingredient: nicotine. Tobacco use is one of the main risk factors for a number of chronic diseases, including cancer, lung diseases and cardiovascular diseases.64) Smoking among women, especially young women, significantly affects their own health and the health of children, as well as the course and outcome of pregnancies. Smoking a woman during pregnancy negatively affects the fetal development of the fetus; in addition, the probability of miscarriages or prematurity of the fetus, as well as congenital pathologies or low weight of the newborn is quite high for women who smoke during pregnancy. Excessive alcohol consumption carries a risk of adverse health consequences and consequences for society due to its intoxicating, toxic and addictive properties. In the long term, excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages can lead to problems of the cardiovascular system, neurological disorders, liver disease and social problems. In addition to chronic diseases that can develop in people who consume an excessive amount of alcoholic beverages, alcohol consumption often causes injuries, including as a result of road accidents (road accidents).65) Excessive alcohol consumption destroys family relationships, negatively affects the proper upbringing of children, and thus, in general, it negatively affects the state of society.66) During the MICS 2015 in Kazakhstan, information was collected on the use of tobacco products and alcohol in the past and at the present time and on the intensity of their use by women aged 15– 49 years. This section presents the main results.
In the TA Table.1 presents data on the use of tobacco (tobacco products) currently and in the past by women aged 15-49 years. According to the results of MICS 2015 in Kazakhstan, 26.9% of women reported that they had ever used a tobacco product, while 8.4% of women smoked cigarettes or used smoking or non-smoking tobacco products at any time in the last month before the survey. The use of any tobacco products by women in urban areas is twice as high as in rural areas (34.7 and 16.9 percent, respectively); the share of urban women who smoked at any time over the past month exceeds the similar share of rural women by more than two times (11.4 and 4.7 percent, respectively). The highest percentage of women who have ever used any tobacco products live in the city of Almaty, as well as in the North Kazakhstan and Kostanay regions (varies from 44.1 to 46.1 percent). Less than 10% of women used any tobacco products in the Kyzylorda, Mangystau and Aktobe regions (7.8, 8.8 and 9.9%, respectively).18.3 percent of women who had ever used tobacco products smoked only cigarettes, while 5.7 percent smoked cigarettes and other tobacco products. During the last month, 7.1 percent of women smoked only cigarettes. Almost one third of women (about 32%) aged 25-29 years, 30-34 years and 35-39 years have ever used any tobacco products. The same age groups of women and women aged 40-44 years dominate among those who have used tobacco products during the last month (approximately 9-11 percent) (Graph TA.1). The youngest age group of 15-19-year-old women (8.4 and 2.3 percent, respectively) used tobacco products the least at any time and during the last month. The proportion of women living in households with at least one child under the age of 5 and who have ever used tobacco products is lower than in households without children under the age of 5 (22.0 and 30.2 percent, respectively), and among smokers over the past month their proportion is lower in both cases (5.0 and 10.8 percent, respectively). The proportion of women who have ever used tobacco products from the households of the richest quintile is twice as high as among women living in the households of the poorest quintile (37.3 and 17.1 percent, respectively). More than half of the women living in households where the heads are persons of Russian nationality (56.8%) have ever used tobacco products, while during the last month about one fifth (23.4%) of women from such households have used tobacco products, 73.0% of women aged 15-49 years reported that they had never smoked and they did not use any types of tobacco products, while in rural areas the proportion of such women is noticeably higher than in urban areas (83.1 and 65.2%, respectively).
