Swedish authorities officially confirmed that the current level of smoking in Sweden has fallen to 5,6%. This makes Swedes the only European nation close to reaching the smoke-free goal set by the EU 18 years ahead of the 2040 target.
In an event organised by the Oral Nicotine Commission in Stockholm, participants took stock of Sweden’s incredible achievements and leadership in the race to end smoking.
It is about to become the first country in the world to be defined as “smoke free”, representing a share of less than 5% of the population smoking.
Sweden’s smoking rates have shot down since the 1980s from 35% down to below 6% – a feat that is yet to be replicated by any other nation in the world. The next lowest smoking rate in Europe is double that of Sweden’s, with the EU average sitting somewhere around 23%, four times higher than in Sweden. The result is the lowest tobacco mortality rate in Europe.
A group of leading public health professionals, consumer advocates and harm reduction experts that met to celebrate the achievement on 30 November 2022 in Stockholm have reaffirmed their call to policymakers around the world to ensure that less harmful alternatives to smoking are available to support smokers to quit.
Commenting at the event, Dr. Delon Human, President of Health Diplomats and organiser of the event in Stockholm said: “If all smokers in the world, some 1.1 billion people, would switch to one of less harmful alternative smoke-free, nicotine-based products, it could prevent disease and save millions of lives worldwide. Sweden has found the fire-escape for smokers. We need to work together to repeat the Swedish experience globally to save lives.”
Yahoo Finance – 2022-12-05.
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