(CNN) Flaky pastries, fine wine and fashionable people smoking lots of cigarettes: Fair or not, this has been a cultural image of France for decades.

But there are signs that smoking in France is losing its allure.

new study by the French Department of Public Health has found that one million daily smokers in the country quit the habit in the last year.

Authorities attribute the drop to recent anti-smoking measures and higher taxes on cigarettes.

"This historic decline proves to everyone that it is possible to fight against smoking through coherent and integrated actions," said François Bourdillon, the health department's director general, in the report released Monday.

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