Children at a kindergarten in Xianju county, Zhejiang province are pictured with no-smoking signs during an anti-smoking education campaign on May 24. [Photo/IC]

The Zhejiang Center for Disease Control and Prevention released statistics showing declining trends regarding smoking on May 31, which was also the 34th World No Tobacco Day.

According to the center, the percentage of Zhejiang residents who are exposed to second-hand smoke currently stands at 57.15 percent, while the percentages of the province's adolescents who have attempted smoking and who have become regular smokers are respectively 8.93 percent and 2.1 percent.

All the aforementioned figures are in decline compared with previous years and are far below the national average.

Zhejiang has set the target of reducing the smoking rate among people aged above 15 years old to 20 percent by 2030.

To attain this goal, Zhejiang authorities have so far opened 117 clinics offering outpatient services with regard to smoking cessation.

Zhejiang authorities are also strengthening the monitoring and preclusion of tobacco use among certain groups of people, such as medical doctors, teachers, civil service workers, and schoolchildren.

Moreover, the government is constantly spreading information regarding smoking-induced hazards and imposing smoking bans in various public sites, in an effort to create a smoking-free society.