Parts of Tasmania in a 'smoking time warp', Victoria University's Mitchell Institute reveals

Research from Victoria University's Mitchell Institute has revealed Bridgewater and Gagebrook in the state's South have the worst smoking rates in Australia, with about 40 per cent of people smoking daily.

At the current rate, it will take about 40 years before the regions reach the current national smoking rate of 14 per cent.

The state's West Coast and Circular Head in the North-West also reported high rates of smoking, at 27 per cent and 24.5 per cent of the populations, respectively.

While national smoking rates have declined significantly over the past four decades, Mitchell Institute health policy lead Ben Harris said the research revealed a large city-country divide, with local factors still influencing smoking rates.

"Parts of Tasmania are caught in a time warp, where large parts of the state have smoking rates that lag between 18 and 40 years behind the rest of the population," he said.

"We know where we live, where we work, when we left school and who we know influences smoking.

"We also know that the best way to stop children picking up the habit is to encourage the adults around them to quit smoking.

"It's important that quit campaigns and health professionals target their messaging to specific communities where smoking rates remain stubbornly high."

While still above the national average, the West Tamar and Meander Valley represented some of the state's lowest rates for smoking, at 16.3 per cent and 19.4 per cent, respectively.

On World No Tobacco Day, May 31, Mr Harris said he hoped the breakdown of community smoking rates would help governments to better target those most at risk.

"We know the quit smoking messages, combined with information on packaging about disease caused by smoking is very effective in encouraging people to quit," he said.

"Using local approaches and local knowledge could help make sure that all Australians are given the best opportunity to quit smoking and improve their health and wellbeing."

People living with mental illness are more than twice as likely to be smokers and the more severe a mental illness, the more likely someone is to smoke.

Mr Harris said overall, Australia's smoking rates have been on a steady decline since its peak in the 1970s, when almost three quarters of Australian men, and one quarter of women, smoked.

"Overall, our success is lauded internationally, and we have some of the lowest smoking rates in the world," he said.