Smoking struggles to resume its decline in France, despite slight improvement

Smoking, which had interrupted its decline in France during the Covid-19 crisis, remained generally stable in 2023 with almost one in three French smokers, although the percentage of daily users decreases, a study published on Tuesday, 19, shows. November.

“In 2023, in mainland France, more than three in ten people between 18 and 75 years old reported smoking”summarizes this study carried out by the Public Health France agency. According to this work, carried out based on a survey among some 15,000 people, 31.1% of French people say they smoke, a proportion “generally stable” according to the authors of the study.

Smoking, which is largely reduced to cigarette consumption, remains one of the main causes of death in France and in the world, not only from cancer but also from cardiovascular diseases.

It registered a clear decline in France in the late 2010s, after more than a decade of anti-smoking campaigns, but the movement was disrupted during the Covid crisis in the early 2020s.

Less than a quarter of daily smokers

The figures published on Tuesday show that this stagnation continues, although there are encouraging elements, first of all a decrease in the percentage of French people who report smoking daily. This decline is still too measured to be noticeable from year to year, but it is indisputable when comparing 2023 with 2021.

With less than a quarter of daily smokers (23.1%), “This is the lowest prevalence of daily smoking ever recorded among people aged 18 to 75 since this indicator exists”the study highlights.

These numbers are still high compared to other countries such as the United States, where just over one in ten Americans say they smoke cigarettes.

Some countries are implementing radical plans to fight against tobacco, such as the United Kingdom, which plans to ban its sale to all those born after 2009. France, for its part, presented a new plan at the end of 2023 to fight against smoking. , which provides, in particular, for a pack of cigarettes at 13 euros in 2027, but the current government has for the moment delayed a price increase starting next year.