In a study which will be released this week in Coimbra, researchers found that most of the 12 and 13 year olds who smoke said they started at school, with the majority of them being girls. Of the one in five school children who smoke, 50 percent said they smoked regularly, having an average of around ten cigarettes a day. The study covered 3,300 students from Year 5 to Year 12.
As revealed Last week in The Portugal News a separate study showed that more than 35 percent of Portuguese aged over 15 have admitted to drinking alcoholic beverages on a daily basis.
Research by Portugal Statistics found that people aged between 25 and 54 were the most likely drinkers, with more than 75 percent being regular drinkers.
Daily drinkers rose in accordance with age, with ten percent of 25 to 34 year olds falling in this category, 40 percent of those aged 45 to 54 and 61 percent of senior citizens.