The European Union’s recently published “Attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco and related products” report reveals that one quarter of the EU’s population is a regular user of some sort of tobacco product, smoking being the main source of nicotine for most people.
According to the report, 24% of EU’s population smokes cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos or pipe, with an average of smoking 14 cigarettes per day across the bloc. Compared too the previous report, from 2021, this only represents a one percentage point decrease, a slowdown reducing the unhealthy habit compared to the 3 points decrease from 2017 to 2021.
The leading smoking countries are among the Balkans, with Bulgaria, Greece, Croatia, Romania, with 37%, 36%, 35% and 34% respectively. At the other end of the ranking, Sweden, the Netherlands and Denmark only have an 8%, 11% and, respectively, 14% smoking population.
The disparities are also significant in terms of change compared to the previous analysis. While in the Czech Republic and Greece, smoking decreased by 7 and 6 percentage points, respectively, Estonia and Austria both saw a 7 percentage points increase. Overall, in 11 the number of smokers increased in 11 countries, stayed the same in another 5 and decreased only in 11.
When taking into account all tobacco products, 25% of the EU’s population is a user. Bulgaria (38%), Greece (37%), Croatia (36%) and Romania (34%) have the most users of (cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos, pipe, e-cigarettes, heated tobacco products, nicotine pouches, water pipe tobacco (shisha, hookah), oral tobacco (snus), chewing tobacco or nasal tobacco (snuff).
At the same time, the use of e-cigarettes increased by 6% among the people aged 15 to 24 compared tot the previous report. Nearly a third of respondents (30%) reported starting to use e-cigarettes because their friends did, 22% liked the flavours and 12% considered e-cigarettes cool and attractive. These statistics represent increases of 21, 10 and, respectively, 9 percentage points compared to the previous report.
“The Eurobarometer underlines the need to act. It shows that people support additional tobacco control measures rather than linking them to the image of a ‘nanny-state’ as some lobbies like to suggest”, Belgian Minister of Health and Social Affairs Frank Vandenbroucke commented on the results. “I sincerely hope that the next commission will quickly pick up the delayed work on the revision of the tobacco directives.”
According to the Smoke Free Partnership coalition, smoking is the leading cause of preventable cancer in Europe, with 27% of all cancers attributed to tobacco use. That translates to nearly 700,000 deaths every year. Moreover, around 50% of smokers die prematurely, on average 14 years earlier, according to the European Commission.
The coalition’s director, Lilia Olefir, pointed out that some countries already implement national measures to curb smoking, such as “increasing minimum tax rates on cigarettes, roll-your-own and new tobacco and nicotine products, mandatory plain packaging, prohibiting cross-border online sales and protecting teenagers from digital advertising of addictive products”, however, EU-level regulation is needed to successfully reduce the use of all tobacco products, not just smoking, and, with it, improve the health of Europeans.
