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Excerpts from At least U.S. teens are less likely to smoke  SEE TABLES OF SMOKING RATES BELOW

by Tracey Wong Briggs, USA Today [02/02/00]

Young adolescents in the USA exercise less and eat more junk food than youths in most European countries. But by the time they're 15, Americans are less likely to smoke, says a cross-cultural comparison of adolescent health behavior in 28 countries and areas, out Tuesday from the World Health Organization.

The WHO report studied the behavior of 120,000 11- to 15-year-olds in 26 European countries and regions, Canada and the USA. The surveys, taken in 1997-98, found that:

* 11-year-olds in the USA are as likely to smoke as European 11-year-olds. But by age 15, Americans are less likely to light up.

Through public perception and legislative policy, "our kids are less exposed to smoking and less exposed to smoke," Overpeck says.

TABLE FOR 15 YEAR OLD MALES AND FEMALES

COUNTRY Lithuania Portugal Estonia Israel Greece USA Czech Republic Sweden Russian Federation* Canada Slovakia Denmark Poland Northern Ireland Wales Switzerland Scotland Ireland Latvia Norway Finland Belgium (Flemish) England Germany* France* Hungary Austria Greenland

MALE 15 YEARS OLD 24 19 24 24 18 20 22 18 24 21 28 20 27 20 22 25 22 25 37 23 25 28 25 28 28 36 30 52

FEMALE 15 YEARS OLD 10 14 12 13 19 21 18 24 22 26 18 28 20 28 29 25 28 25 19 28 29 28 33 33 31 28 36 63

TABLE FOR 13 YEAR OLD MALES AND FEMALES

COUNTRY Estonia Sweden Slovakia Portugal Greece Lithuania Poland Denmark Switzerland Norway Czech Republic Israel Hungary USA Belgium (Flemish) Austria Russian Federation* France* Latvia Scotland Canada Finland Wales England Ireland Germany* Northern Ireland Greenland

MALES 13 YEARS OLD 7 4 7 5 5 10 8 6 6 8 10 12 12 8 10 10 13 9 15 9 12 10 8 11 14 14 12 29

FEMALES 13 YEARS OLD 2 5 3 4 5 2 4 8 8 7 7 6 6 9 8 8 7 11 7 13 13 14 18 15 12 13 15 41

TABLE FOR 11 YEAR OLD MALES AND FEMALES

COUNTRY Sweden Belgium (Flemish) Lithuania Russian Federation* Austria Finland Czech Republic Hungary Slovakia Greece Switzerland Denmark Estonia Norway Canada Wales USA England Latvia Scotland Ireland Portugal Germany* Poland France* Northern Ireland Israel Greenland

MALES 11 YEARS OLD  1 2 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 1 1 2 2 3 3 4 2 2 2 2 3 2 3 7 3

FEMALES 11 YEARS OLD 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.5 1 1 0.2 1 0.4 1 1 1 1 0.2 2 2 2 1 0.3 3 2 2 1 1 1 2 3 6

* France, Germany, and Russia are represented only by regions