Government’s smoking ban has been credited with helping to reduce Bermuda’s smoking rate.Anti-smoking campaigner Charles Jeffers said Bermuda should now take the next step and ban smoking in the entrance of buildings and doorways.The Bermuda Health Council’s Health in Review Report, which will be made public tomorrow, found the Island has the lowest daily smoking rate out of all countries in the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.It promotes policies to improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world and has 34 member countries.Only eight percent of the population smokes daily. Sweden and the US have the next lowest daily smoking rates with 14.5 percent and 15.4 percent of their populations smokingThe report states: “In 2006 more people had never smoked than in 1999 and declines were observed in the percentage of persons identifying themselves as current smokers from 1999 to 2006, with a further decline in 2008.“Part of this may be due to the Tobacco Products Public Health Amendment Act, which came into operation in 2006. The law prohibits smoking in certain places, such as enclosed public spaces, workplaces, restaurants, hotels, hospitals etc.“The proportion of daily smokers in Bermuda is lower than the proportion in all OECD countries. By gender the rates are also well below OECD averages fro males and females.“Bermuda has the same general pattern of gender differences as most OECD countries, with smoking rates higher among males than females.”Greece has the highest proportion of smokers with 40 percent of its population being daily smokers.Jennifer Attride Stirling, who heads up the Bermuda Health Council, said she did not expect Bermuda to have the lowest figure.“I was not surprised by our low rate,” Dr. Attride Stirling said. “We knew our rates were low and we knew that the figure had decreased from the last survey but we did not expect to at the bottom of the list.”Health Minister Zane DeSilva said it was a great accolade for Bermuda to have the lowest rate.“ It gives me great pride as the Minister of Health that many of our residents have recognized the harmful effects of smoking both to themselves and others around them,” he said. “I must give credit to the Tobacco Products (Public Health) Amendment Act of 2005, which prohibited smoking in public places and workplaces.“Bermuda’s low smoking rate, as revealed in the Health in Review Report this week, is surely a reflection of how legislation has worked effectively to combat this deadly habit.”Anti-smoking campaigner Mr Jeffers said he welcomed the news.In 2004 he launched the Bermuda Advocates for Non Smoking group, which helped pave the way for the legislation in 2005.Mr Jefferes said: “That is great news that we are the bottom of the list, but we shouldn’t rest on our laurels.“The less acceptable it is to smoke the less inclined people are to do it. We should think about following laws like Canada, where people cannot smoke 15 feet in front of a property.”\For more about the OECD go to www.oecd.org