Hong Kong residents who were born in 2009 or after should be banned from buying cigarettes by 2027, the Council on Smoking and Health proposed on Nov. 3, reports the South China Morning Post

The city’s smoking population dropped to 9.5 percent last year—hitting single digits for the first time since tracking began—but Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu has pledged to lower the rate to 7.8 percent in three years.

Other measures proposed include doubling the current tobacco tax by 2023-2024, which means a pack of cigarettes currently priced at HKD60 ($7.64) would rise to around HKD100. [...]