Statistical Improvement
Recently I reported that a UN study found that 28% of the global population smokes (see ‘Statistical Analysis’) and I commented that it was unlikely that the figure would remain constant across different countries. Specifically I assumed war-torn regions and developing nations would be less likely to spend money on fatal non-essentials when they’re living ship-to-mouth and as a result artificially lowered the average. I also thought that Europe might be mitigating this deflation as they seem to smoke more. Well it turns out I was right that the average is not constant however I was wrong in my fear that Canada would be above the average.
My fault, I tried applying logic to aggregate human behaviour - I should have known better. And when it comes to smoking logic frequently does not apply.
It turns out only 19% of Canadians smoke, 9% less than the global average. I’ll take this as a further sign of hope. Not just that smokers are causing their own extinction but that hopefully the practice will become an anachronism before long. And once again providing proof that Canada is, if not leading the way, at least ahead of the curve.
