New Yorkers smoke less

The number of smokers in New York has dropped by 500,000 over the last decade and the number of smoking-related deaths has dropped by 10,000, NY Mayor Michael Bloomberg said on Wednesday summing up the results of the first ten years of the ban on smoking in bars, restaurants and office buildings, TASS reported.

When the ban was introduced in 2003 it raised a controversial response in the city. Its backers called it a measure of saving human lives and bar and restaurant owners declared that it would kill their business with scaring away customers.

According to statistics, over the last decade the number of adult smokers in New York has dropped by almost one third – from 21% in 2002 to 15% in 2011.