Sweden at bottom of EU smoking table

About one in every four people aged 15 or older living in the EU is a tobacco smoker, and about one in five is exposed to passive smoking, according to a eurostat news release citing data from the most recent European Health Interview Survey (EHIS).

The release said that 76.0 percent of those aged 15 or older living in the EU were non-smokers in 2014, that 19.2 percent smoked any kind of tobacco products daily, and that a further 4.7 percent smoked on an occasional basis. The totality of current smokers was made up of 28.7 percent of men and 19.5 percent of women.

In addition, 21.6 percent of the EU population aged 15 or older was exposed, on a daily basis, to tobacco smoke indoors.

Among the EU member States for which data are available, the lowest shares of current smokers in 2014 among those aged 15 or older were recorded in Sweden (16.7 percent), the UK (17.2 percent), Finland (19.3 percent), Portugal (20.0 percent), Luxembourg (20.4 percent), Denmark (20.9 percent) and Germany (21.7 percent). At the opposite end of the table was Bulgaria (34.7 percent), Greece (32.6 percent), Austria (30.0 percent), Slovakia (29.6 percent) and Latvia (29.5 percent).

In every EU member state, the proportion of current smokers was higher among men than among women. The most significant gender gaps were found in Lithuania (40.3 percent of men compared with 12.3 percent of women; or +28.0 percentage points – pp), Romania (+27.3 pp), Cyprus (+24.7 pp), Latvia (+24.5 pp) and Estonia (+18.4 pp).

Meanwhile, the proportion of the population exposed to second-hand smoke stood at 64.2 percent in Greece, 44.7 percent in Croatia, 40.5 percent in Bulgaria and 37.6 percent in Romania. In contrast, the lowest exposures to second-hand smoke were recorded in Sweden (5.9 percent), Finland (6.3 percent), Portugal (8.6 percent) and Hungary (9.9 percent).

The first wave of EHIS was conducted between 2006 and 2009, and the second wave between 2013 and 2015.