Fewer teenagers smoke and drink alcohol.

[Anchor]
According to the survey, the proportion of middle and high school students who smoke has decreased significantly compared to 20 years ago.

During the same period, the youth drinking rate also decreased by a third.

Analysts say that changes in the overall social atmosphere, which is reluctant to smoke, have also affected adolescents.

This is reporter Lee Moon-seok.

[Reporter]
The youth smoking rate has decreased significantly over the past 20 years.

In this year's Youth Health Behavior Survey, the smoking rate of middle and high school students was 4.5%, the lowest in the past 20 years.

Compared to the smoking rate of 11.8% in 2005, when the survey first began, it fell to 38%.

The decrease in female smoking rate was about 5 percentage points greater than that of male students.

The decline in the smoking rate of adolescents was analyzed to have a large social impact, such as strengthening smoking regulations and decreasing adult smoking rates.

[Lim Min-kyung/Professor of Inha University School of Medicine: We have steadily strengthened tobacco control policies, and as a result, the number of non-smoking areas has been greatly expanded, and the decrease in smoking rates among adults has presented a positive role model for teenagers..]

The drinking rate of adolescents has also fallen significantly from 20 years ago.

The drinking rate, which reached 27% in 2005, is down 64% from 9.7% this year.

Of course, it wasn't all good changes.

The rate of skipping breakfast and going to school has steadily increased from 27.1% 20 years ago to 42.4% this year.

The obesity rate also more than doubled from 5.9% in 2006 to 12.5% this year.

The Ministry of Education and the Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said they will come up with measures to supplement areas that need improvement, such as dietary indicators, when implementing related policies such as the basic plan for promoting student health.

I'm YTN's Lee Munseok.

Edit Video: Kang Eun-ji

Design: Eun