THE total ban on smoking in indoor public places across the city came into force yesterday, as new figures show fewer people are smoking.

The Shanghai Health and Family Planning Commission annual report released yesterday said the number of people smoking in public fell 4.6 percentage points to 8.5 percent last year.

The report, based on a survey of 34,400 people in 1,796 public places found 78 percent of those surveyed were aware of the smoking ban and 95 percent of those supported it and pledged to observe it.