He consumption of tobacco fell to its historic minimum in Spain, with 36.8% of the population aged 15 to 64 having smoked in the last 12 months and 25.8% doing so daily, but the use of electronic cigarettes and other derivatives has doubled since 2018, from 3 % to 7.1%. The latest survey on alcohol and other drugs in Spain (ages 2024) by the Government Delegation for the National Drug Control Plan published this Tuesday reveals that 92.9% of the population has drunk at some point in their lives and 76.5% in the last year. , which maintains alcohol as the most consumed substance.
Behind is the tobaccoaccording to this biennial study carried out cwith 26,878 interviews with people aged 15 to 64, which places hypnosedatives in third place among the most consumed legal substances (12%), although overtaken by cannabis, which remains the preferred illegal drug (12.6%). Less drunkenness and alcohol consumption The price and ease of access make alcohol the favorite substance of Spaniards: 63.5% have drunk it in the last month and more than 10% do it daily, which is a point and a half more than two years ago.
Men drink more than women and, by age, in the last 30 days the highest prevalence is in the 25 to 34 age group, but those who drink the most alcohol daily are those between 55 and 64 years (15.9%). drunkenness has decreased by 2 points compared to 2022, with 14.7% of the population admitting to having suffered from alcohol poisoning acute last year and 4.6% last month. This type of consumption is more common among younger people and decreases with age, but it also depends on the type of drink: wine consumption is greater among older people, reaching a prevalence of 47% in the group aged 55 to 64, unlike that of cubatas, which decreases over the years.
With beer, intake increases up to 44 and remains stable thereafter. Meanwhile, “binge drinking” or binge drinking (5 or more drinks among men and 4 or more among women, consecutively or within a two-hour interval), the survey reveals a figure similar to that of 2022, with a slight increase in these. (11.7), even if it remains in the majority (20.4).
Daily tobacco consumption drops by 8 points
The consumption of tobacco decreased in all sections analyzed (lifetime, last year, last month and daily), especially among those who smoke every day, who fell by eight points (from 33.1% to 25.8). Around 266,000 people took up the habit last year, 18,000 less than the previous survey. The age of initiation is 16.6 years and it is more common for men to smoke than women.
All this shows that “policies against tobacco that are carried out in Spain are effective and, moreover, as we know from all our experience acquired, they are policies that we must update and this is precisely what we find ourselves in”, recalled the Secretary of State of Health, Javier Padilla, in the presentation. The majority of smokers are loyal to packs (73.1%), against 16.1% who prefer tobacco of driving, which occupies a “significant” 15% among daily smokers, underlined the government delegate for the National Drug Plan, Joan Ramón Villalbí.
Why this decline? Villalbí attributed this to demographic changes, with an increase in the foreign population from countries where smoking is not common, especially women, and to the fact that among adolescents, “smoking is no longer fashionable for many years.”
Vapes are used to relapse
On the other hand, those from tobacco are no longer “anecdotal”: almost a fifth have already used electronic cigarettes and those who use them constantly “are relatively few in number”, but before that to stop smoking and “Now it’s more of a relapse.”explained the delegate. The prevalence of lifetime vaping use has increased by seven points, from 6.8% in 2018 to 19% today; Over the past 12 months, it has increased from 3% to 7.1%, and over the past 30 days, from 1.5% to 4.6%.
Those who do it daily have gone from 0.9% to 1.3%. “This trend is worrying,” Padilla said, because it confirms that these products are used to start smoking. Among legal substances, sedative-hypnotics reach their maximum during a certain period of their life (27.4%), including 4.8% without a medical prescription, with an age of onset of 29.8 years.
On the contrary, last year, around 456,000 people started using it, 257,000 fewer than in 2022, and 8% last month compared to 9.7% two years earlier. Likewise, they consume more opioid analgesics, used mainly for pain. The total prevalence reaches 15.2% of the population, who mainly take codeine and tramadol.
