Singapore will widen its smoking ban to include pubs, clubs and food stalls as part of an aggressive nationwide anti-smoking campaign. From next July, the city-state – which bans the sale of non-medical chewing gum – will confine smokers to designated smoking areas and compel building owners to have separate ventilation systems preventing non-smokers from inhaling secondary smoke indoors.

“The ban will take effect next year in order to give businesses time to adjust,” a government spokeswoman said yesterday. Singapore has previously said it will ban smoking at bus shelters, public pools and toilets from October. Cigarette packets in the country are required by law to carry images of sick babies and diseased organs. Smokers have had to pay more for cigarettes over the years with a packet now costing an average of S$10 ($6) – the most expensive in the region.

While government statistics have shown the number of smokers falling to 14 percent of Singapore’s 4.2 million population from 18 percent in 1992, the number of young female smokers has been on the rise. In 2004, Ireland became the first country to ban smoking in all public places. Italy and Norway are also among the countries that have introduced laws to curb smoking in public. US cities New York and Boston and US states Florida and California have similar restrictions. Tiny Himalayan kingdom Bhutan has taken smoking restrictions one step further by imposing a nationwide ban on sale of tobacco products in the country.