Dearer smokes means less smokers: survey

Increasing the price of cigarettes will help smokers kick the habit, according to a poll conducted by lobby group Quit.

The findings support a key recommendation of the Rudd government's preventative health taskforce, which earlier this month called for the average price of a packet of cigarettes to be increased from $13.50 to $20.

The Quit poll, released on Wednesday, reveals 53 per cent of recent quitters believe price is a "helpful" factor in giving up.

Cigarette cost was the biggest factor in making the decision to quit, while public smoking bans were most effective in helping people stay off cigarettes.

"Increasing the price of cigarettes is the most effective intervention that the government can make in reducing smoking rates, but there has been no real price increase in Australia in almost 10 years," Quit executive director Fiona Sharkie said in a statement.

"With tobacco claiming 15,000 Australians lives and costing the community $31.5 billion every year, it is essential that cost increases to cigarettes are implemented as soon as possible in order to help smokers make the decision to quit, and help recent quitters stay quit."

Research by Cancer Council Victoria released earlier this year found raising the cost of a packet of cigarettes 50 per cent would prompt the vast majority of smokers to try to quit.

Some 74 per cent of smokers would "try and quit" if prices were increased by 50 per cent to about the $20 mark for a packet of 30 cigarettes, the research revealed.