By Gabriela Baron
Fewer young Filipinos are smoking cigarettes and drinking alcohol, according to a survey conducted by the University of the Philippines Population Institute (UPPI).
According to the 2021 Young Adult Fertility and Sexuality Study (YAFS5) of UPPI, of every 10 young adult Filipinos, only three are currently drinking, one is smoking, and close to none is using illegal drugs.
“For instance, while about a fifth of the youth were smoking between 1994 and 2013, the share declined to 12% in 2021,” UPPI noted.
The research also found that 41% of the respondents said they are smoking fewer sticks now, averaging five a day, while three in four smokers also indicated that they want to stop smoking.
Meanwhile, some 45% of the youth surveyed said they were drinking less during the pandemic, while 65% said they want to stop drinking.
About 10,949 randomly selected youth aged 15 to 24 from over 900 randomly selected barangays in the country participated in the survey. -ag
