Methods: Cross-sectional analyses of data collected from national surveys of 10 to 18 year old schoolchildren at three points in time: representative samples of 8497 schoolchildren in 1998, 8424 schoolchildren in 2002 and 10334 schoolchildren in 2006. The smoking questions and sampling methods were identical in each survey.

Results: In 2006, 35.9% of the children reported that they had ever tried smoking compared to 40.1% in 2002 and 49.1% in 1998. No significant gender differences were found smoking initiation. 15.3% of the children in 2006 reported that they are currently smokers compared to 18.6% in 2002 and 21.2% in 2006, with a slightly higher numbers of girls compared to boys reporting to be smokers in 2002 and in 2006.

Conclusions: The data presented suggest that over the past 8 years the number of children engaged in smoking initiation and who are current smokers has significantly decreased. The decrease in smoking is visible since before the smoking ban was in place suggesting that even if it had assisted in the reduction in smoking, the change in this behaviours had started prior to it.