PARIS: The number of teenagers trying alcohol or cigarettes before they turn 14 has dropped, especially among girls, according to a World Health Organization study of 42 well-off nations.

From 2010 to 2014, the percentage of 15-year-old boys in Europe, Canada and Israel who said they’d smoked their first cigarette at 13 fell from 26 to 22 among boys — but plunged from 22 to 13 for girls.

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