Sweden on track to become Europe’s first ‘smoke free’ country

Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Sweden, which has the lowest rate of smoking in the Europe Union, is close to declaring itself ‘smoke free,’ as it has less than 5% daily smokers in the population.

Many experts are of the view that this credit goes to decades of anti-smoking campaigns and legislation.

Now, since it now has less than 5% daily smokers, it’s said that the said number is well within reach.

If we go by the data from the Public Health Agency of Sweden, the smoking rate has actually continued to fall since then, reaching 5.6% last year.

Reports further add that the risks of smoking appear well understood among health-conscious Swedes, including younger generations. 20 years ago, around 20% of the population were smokers, which was also a low rate globally during that time.

Since then, a number of measures have been put into place to discourage smoking, including bans on smoking in restaurants.

Sweden has even gone out further to stamp out cigarettes, and argued that it helped in a range of health benefits, including a relatively low rate of lung cancer.

Sweden even levied taxes on cigarettes to curb the practice and put strict restrictions into place on the marketing of these products, which have played a remarkable role too.

Also, like in most of Europe, smoking isn’t allowed inside restaurants and bars, but Sweden has banned smoking even in outdoor seating areas since 2019

Further, WHO attributes Sweden’s declining smoking rate to a combination of tobacco control measures, including advertising bans, information campaigns, and ‘cessation support’ for those wishing to quit tobacco.

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