SCRAPPING the legal age limit for buying cigarettes would reduce dramatically the number of children who smoke, a study has claimed.

A survey of more than 92,000 teenagers in 27 countries has revealed that those living in nations where tobacco sales are not regulated are the least likely to take up the habit.

The study also found that raising the price of tobacco failed to cut the number of child smokers.

According to research by academics at the universities of Edinburgh and Copenhagen, outlawing the sale of cigarettes to minors makes them more desirable because smoking becomes a badge of maturity.

The children who took part in the survey, who were aged 13-15, were asked how frequently they smoked.

Those in countries where there is no age restriction on tobacco sales - such as Belgium, Denmark and France - were much less likely to light up.

The findings, published in the scientific journal Addiction, challenge the notion that restricting the sale of tobacco will encourage people to kick the habit.

They also mirror evidence of lower rates of teenage binge drinking in countries with a more relaxed attitude to alcohol consumption.

In Scotland, the minimum age for buying tobacco was raised last year from 16 to 18, after a ban on smoking in public places that came into effect in 2006.

The measures are part of plans to cut the country's death toll from tobacco-related illnesses, currently about 13,500 people every year.

The authors of the study suggest that ministers should explore methods other than legislation if they are to combat smoking in Scotland, such as sustained health campaigns.

“The findings are counter-intuitive,” said Professor Candace Currie, director of Edinburgh University's child and adolescent health research unit and co-author of the study.

“They challenge our assumptions that if we ban something then it won't happen. Young people simply get more inventive about the way they obtain cigarettes. It raises a question mark about the way legislation is enforced and how effective it is.”

In many other European countries, such as Austria, Italy and Spain, the minimum legal age for buying tobacco is still 16.

In Scotland there is evidence that measures such as banning smoking in public places appear to have failed to dissuade a hard core of smokers to give up.

Although 4.4% of smokers in Scotland used a National Health Service cessation service to try and stop in the first year after the ban, the proportion fell to fewer than 4% last year.

Scotland still has one of the largest number of smokers in Europe, with about a quarter of the population addicted to tobacco.

The study identified Russia - where tobacco sales are restricted to over-18s - as the nation most addicted to tobacco, with more than 36% of the adult population smoking on a daily basis.

Last week the study was seized upon by the pro-smoking lobby as proof that ministers should stop trying to use legislation to reduce smoking.

“Teenagers, by their very nature, will rebel against authority and in relation to tobacco, it's much better to say smoking is a risk to your health and leave it to an individual's free choice,” said Neil Rafferty, the Scottish spokesman for Forest, the pro-smoking campaign group.

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