Girls lead way as teenage smoking rates decline

OTTAWA - A new study says teenagers -- especially girls -- are smoking less.

The Statistics Canada survey, conducted last February to December, found smoking rates among 15-to-19 year olds had declined to 15 per cent from 18 in 2005.

The rates had been unchanged at 18 per cent between 2003 and 2005 after falling from 28 per cent in 1999.

The proportion of teenagers who were daily smokers declined to nine per cent in 2006 from 11 per cent in 2005.

Young women apparently accounted for most of the decline -- girls' smoking rates fell to 14 per cent from 19.

Sixteen per cent of teenage boys smoked in 2006, down from 18 per cent in 2005.