NEW YORK: The number of female smokers in New York has fallen by more than 120,000 since five years ago, when the city first put forward a tough new ban on the use of tobacco, according to health officials.

“The number of female smokers has fallen by 123,000 in New York City since 2002 -- and young women are now about half as likely to smoke as young men,” the city's health department said in a statement.

“Women are taking charge of their health,” Health Commissioner Thomas Frieden said in a statement. “And for tobacco companies, that's bad news.” But he warned that big tobacco was increasing its marketing spending and devising ever subtler ways to draw in female smokers.

The drop in smoker numbers was greatest among young white women living in Manhattan, the department said, with the prevalence of female smokers falling from 20 per cent city-wide in 2002 to 16 per cent in 2005.

A report by the health department in December showed that the number of smoking-related deaths recorded each year had fallen from almost 9,000 in 2001 to just under 8,100 in 2005.—AFP