Sweden has reached a goal of fewer than five percent of the population smoking regularly and is considered smoke-free. Daily smoking fell from 16% in 2003 to 4.8% in 2025. Smoking rates have declined since the late 1970s, supported by broad prevention efforts. Accessibility to smoking has been reduced through higher taxes and rising real-term prices. Advertising bans have helped deter people from starting, and measures have made quitting easier. The use of snus has increased in recent years, including nicotine pouches, and the decline in smoking had already occurred before the rise in snus, suggesting other factors also drove the reduction.
"For the first time in CAN's surveys, fewer than five percent smoke regularly in Sweden, according to the 2025 annual report on smoking and snus habits, which means that the political goal for Sweden to be smoke-free by 2025 has been achieved. The proportion of daily smokers dropped from 16 to 4.8 percent between 2003 and 2025, according to the new report."
"“It is an incredible development that a harmful behaviour can be reduced to this extent,” Mats Ramstedt, head of research at the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN), told the TT news agency. “It is not just the proportion of smokers that has decreased; we also see that people are smoking fewer cigarettes. Given the health risks associated with cigarette smoking, this is obviously very positive,” said Ramstedt."
"“The first and perhaps most vital point is that accessibility has been drastically reduced. It is both harder and more expensive to smoke today,” said Ramstedt, citing taxes and real-term prices rising by 45 percent since 2003. He also credited efforts made to deter people from starting to smoke in the first place, such as advertising bans, and to make it easier for people to quit."
"Meanwhile, Sweden has seen a sharp increase in the use of snus in recent years the small nicotine pouches popular in Sweden a factor that the tobacco industry often highlights as a major reason for Sweden's low proportion of smokers. “One must keep in mind that smoking had already decreased sharply before we saw this rise in snus. In a way, that argues”"
#smoking-prevalence #tobacco-control-policy #taxation-and-pricing #smoking-cessation #snus-and-nicotine-pouches
Read at www.thelocal.se
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]