The share of individuals who currently smoke cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos or a pipe in Greece was around 42 percent in 2020, which makes the Mediterranean country have the highest proportion of smokers in the EU.

Tobacco taxation

In an effort to reduce smoking prevalence among the populace, governments across Europe impose ever-higher tax rates on tobacco, making cigarettes much more expensive for consumers to purchase and hence, compelling them to reduce their consumption. For instance, Finland had the highest cigarette excise tax rate in 2019 at around 68 percent. Other countries like the Netherlands and Germany impose a slightly lower tax rate of 54 and 52 percent, respectively. The German government generated approximately 14.7 billion euros in revenues from tobacco taxation in 2020. With tobacco taxes making up the lion’s share of the price of a pack of cigarettes, European governments hope this will trigger a significant reduction in consumer demand.

To what extent did higher taxes contribute to reducing cigarette consumption in Europe?

With rising tobacco taxation across the European continent in the last years (albeit in varying rates), cigarette consumers have either quit smoking, reduced their intake or switched to e-cigarettes and non-combustible tobacco alternatives. In fact, only 28 percent of individuals consume tobacco in France today, a country once notorious for its prevalent tobacco consumption. This trend has been reflected over the years with a significant drop in the volume of cigarettes annually sold in France: In 2005, more than 54,000 tons of cigarettes were sold, but that figure dropped to nearly 36,000 tons by 2020. During the same time period, the price of the most sold brand of cigarettes in France more than tripled.

As of 2023, Turkey had the highest share of adults who smoked daily in Europe, at almost ** percent. In Ukraine there was also a high prevalence of daily smokers reported at ** percent. On the other hand, smoking is less popular in Nordic countries, with Sweden, Norway, and Iceland having fewer than *** percent of their populations smoking daily. Attempts to quit smoking In a European survey addressed to smokers in 2020, Bulgaria and Romania had the largest share of smokers who reported never attempting to quit smoking, at around **************. Meanwhile, roughly ****** percent of smokers in the United Kingdom attempted to quit smoking in the past. In a separate survey, many smokers in Europe were aware of the cancer risks of smoking and had attempted to cut down on the habit as a result. Overall, young people across Europe were less likely to quit smoking, with ** percent of those aged 15 to 24 reporting never attempting to quit. Smoking among youth Roughly a third of school students in Lithuania had tried smoking cigarettes by the age of 13, out of whom *** percent were daily smokers. Among a slightly higher age group, by the age of ** years, Slovakia held the highest share of youth trying cigarettes in their lifetime at ** percent, with ** percent having smoked a cigarette within the past month. In almost every European country, more than half of school students surveyed said it easy to obtain cigarettes, with Denmark coming at the top of the list with ** percent of its students. Nevertheless, smoking has generally declined among European youths over the past decades; down from ** percent of ** year olds smoking in 1999 to ** percent by 2019.

Among the shown European countries, Bulgaria had the highest share of adults who smoked daily as of 2021, at almost ** percent. Furthermore, ** percent of people in Turkey were reported to also be daily smokers in 2021, an increase from the share of smokers in 2011. Conversely, most European countries have decreased in smokers since 2011.

Comparing the *** selected regions regarding the smoking prevalence , Myanmar is leading the ranking (***** percent) and is followed by Serbia with ***** percent. At the other end of the spectrum is Ghana with **** percent, indicating a difference of ***** percentage points to Myanmar. Shown is the estimated share of the adult population (15 years or older) in a given region or country, that smoke on a daily basis. According to the WHO and World bank, smoking refers to the use of cigarettes, pipes or other types of tobacco.The shown data are an excerpt of Statista's Key Market Indicators (KMI). The KMI are a collection of primary and secondary indicators on the macro-economic, demographic and technological environment in up to *** countries and regions worldwide. All indicators are sourced from international and national statistical offices, trade associations and the trade press and they are processed to generate comparable data sets (see supplementary notes under details for more information).

EU European Union: Smoking Prevalence: Total: % of Adults: Aged 15+ data was reported at 28.224 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 28.619 % for 2015. EU European Union: Smoking Prevalence: Total: % of Adults: Aged 15+ data is updated yearly, averaging 29.939 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 36.380 % in 2000 and a record low of 28.224 % in 2016. EU European Union: Smoking Prevalence: Total: % of Adults: Aged 15+ data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under World Trend Plus’s Aggregate: Euro Area and European Union – Table EU.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Prevalence of smoking is the percentage of men and women ages 15 and over who currently smoke any tobacco product on a daily or non-daily basis. It excludes smokeless tobacco use. The rates are age-standardized.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

Historical dataset showing European Union smoking rate by year from 2000 to 2022.

📊

This dataset provides a detailed analysis of smoking trends worldwide, covering essential metrics such as:
- Total smokers and smoking prevalence rates
- Cigarette consumption and brand market share
- Tobacco taxation and smoking ban policies
- Smoking-related deaths and gender-based smoking patterns

Spanning data from 2010 to 2024, this dataset offers valuable insights for health research, policy evaluation, and data-driven decision-making.

📊 Column Descriptions

The European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) aims at measuring on a harmonised basis and with a high degree of comparability among Member States (MS) the health status (including disability), health determinants (lifestyle) of the EU citizens and use of health care services and limitations in accessing it.

The general coverage of the survey is the population aged 15 or over living in private households residing in the territory of the country.

EHIS was developed between 2003 and 2006. It consists of four modules on health status, health determinants, health care, and background variables (socio-demographic characteristics of the population).

Three waves of EHIS have currently been implemented. The first wave of EHIS (EHIS wave 1 or EHIS round 2008) was conducted between 2006 and 2009 in 17 EU Member States as well as Switzerland and Turkey.

The second wave (EHIS wave 2 or EHIS round 2014) was conducted between 2013 and 2015 in all EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Turkey according to the Commission Regulation 141/2013.

The third wave of EHIS was conducted in 2019. All Member States participated in the EHIS wave 3 in accordance with the Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2018/255. A derogation regarding the data collection period was granted for some countries: the data collection period was 2018 for Belgium, 2018-2020 for Austria and Germany, and 2019-2020 for Malta.

The questionnaire consists of the same four modules for all the EHIS waves and over the years, some changes to the questionnaire have been implemented to satisfy specific users’ needs. Also, countries are allowed to include additional questions in the specific submodules or even specific sub-modules in the survey if this does not have an impact on the results of the compulsory variable

EHIS includes the following topics:

Health status
This topic includes different dimensions of health status and health-related activity limitations:

• General health status (Minimum European health module): self-perceived health, chronic morbidity and disability (activity limitation)
• Disease-specific morbidity
• Accidents and injuries
• Health-related absenteeism from work
• Physical and sensory functional limitations (also cognitive limitations in wave 3)
• Difficulties in personal care activities / activities of daily living (such as eating and washing) and help received/needed
• Household activities / Instrumental activities of daily living (such as preparing meals and shopping) and help received/needed
• Pain
• Aspect of mental health (psychological distress and mental well-being in the first wave, depressive symptoms in the second and third waves)
• Work-related health problems (only in the first wave).

Health care
This topic covers the use of different types of medicines and formal and informal health and social care services, which are complemented by data on health-related expenditure, and limitations in access to and satisfaction with health care services:

• Hospitalisation (in-patient and day care)
• Consultations with doctors and dentists
• Visits to specific health professionals (such as physiotherapists or psychologists)
• Use of home care services
• Use of medicines (prescribed and non-prescribed)
• Healthcare preventive actions (such as influenza vaccination, breast examination, cervical smear test and blood tests)
• Unmet needs for health care
• Out-of-pocket payments for medical care (only in the first wave)
• Satisfaction with services provided by healthcare providers (only in the first wave)
• Visits to specific categories of alternative medicine practitioners (only in the first wave).

Health determinants
This topic includes various individual and environmental health determinants:

• Height and weight
• Physical activity/exercise
• Consumption of fruits, vegetables and juice
• Drinking sugar-sweetened soft drinks (only in the third wave)
• Tobacco smoking behaviour and exposure to tobacco smoke
• Use of e-cigarettes or similar electronic devices (only in the third wave)
• Alcohol consumption
• Social support
• Provision of informal care or assistance (only in the second and third waves)
• Illicit drug use (only in the first wave)
• Environment (home and workplace exposures, criminality exposure) (only in the first wave).

Background variables on demography and socio-economic characteristics.

All indicators are expressed as percentages within the population and statistics are broken down by age and sex and one other dimension such as educational attainment level, income quintile group, degree of urbanization, country of birth, country of citizenship, level of disability (activity limitation).

The European Health Interview Survey (EHIS) aims at measuring on a harmonised basis and with a high degree of comparability among Member States (MS) the health status (including disability), health determinants (lifestyle) of the EU citizens and use of health care services and limitations in accessing it.

The general coverage of the survey is the population aged 15 or over living in private households residing in the territory of the country.

EHIS was developed between 2003 and 2006. It consists of four modules on health status, health determinants, health care, and background variables (socio-demographic characteristics of the population).

Three waves of EHIS have currently been implemented. The first wave of EHIS (EHIS wave 1 or EHIS round 2008) was conducted between 2006 and 2009 in 17 EU Member States as well as Switzerland and Turkey.

The second wave (EHIS wave 2 or EHIS round 2014) was conducted between 2013 and 2015 in all EU Member States, Iceland, Norway and Turkey according to the Commission Regulation 141/2013.

The third wave of EHIS was conducted in 2019. All Member States participated in the EHIS wave 3 in accordance with the Commission Regulation (EU) No. 2018/255. A derogation regarding the data collection period was granted for some countries: the data collection period was 2018 for Belgium, 2018-2020 for Austria and Germany, and 2019-2020 for Malta.

The questionnaire consists of the same four modules for all the EHIS waves and over the years, some changes to the questionnaire have been implemented to satisfy specific users’ needs. Also, countries are allowed to include additional questions in the specific submodules or even specific sub-modules in the survey if this does not have an impact on the results of the compulsory variable

EHIS includes the following topics:

Health status
This topic includes different dimensions of health status and health-related activity limitations:

• General health status (Minimum European health module): self-perceived health, chronic morbidity and disability (activity limitation)
• Disease-specific morbidity
• Accidents and injuries
• Health-related absenteeism from work
• Physical and sensory functional limitations (also cognitive limitations in wave 3)
• Difficulties in personal care activities / activities of daily living (such as eating and washing) and help received/needed
• Household activities / Instrumental activities of daily living (such as preparing meals and shopping) and help received/needed
• Pain
• Aspect of mental health (psychological distress and mental well-being in the first wave, depressive symptoms in the second and third waves)
• Work-related health problems (only in the first wave).

Health care
This topic covers the use of different types of medicines and formal and informal health and social care services, which are complemented by data on health-related expenditure, and limitations in access to and satisfaction with health care services:

• Hospitalisation (in-patient and day care)
• Consultations with doctors and dentists
• Visits to specific health professionals (such as physiotherapists or psychologists)
• Use of home care services
• Use of medicines (prescribed and non-prescribed)
• Healthcare preventive actions (such as influenza vaccination, breast examination, cervical smear test and blood tests)
• Unmet needs for health care
• Out-of-pocket payments for medical care (only in the first wave)
• Satisfaction with services provided by healthcare providers (only in the first wave)
• Visits to specific categories of alternative medicine practitioners (only in the first wave).

Health determinants
This topic includes various individual and environmental health determinants:

• Height and weight
• Physical activity/exercise
• Consumption of fruits, vegetables and juice
• Drinking sugar-sweetened soft drinks (only in the third wave)
• Tobacco smoking behaviour and exposure to tobacco smoke
• Use of e-cigarettes or similar electronic devices (only in the third wave)
• Alcohol consumption
• Social support
• Provision of informal care or assistance (only in the second and third waves)
• Illicit drug use (only in the first wave)
• Environment (home and workplace exposures, criminality exposure) (only in the first wave).

Background variables on demography and socio-economic characteristics.

All indicators are expressed as percentages within the population and statistics are broken down by age and sex and one other dimension such as educational attainment level, income quintile group, degree of urbanization, country of birth, country of citizenship, level of disability (activity limitation).

Denmark DK: Smoking Prevalence: Females: % of Adults data was reported at 19.300 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 19.900 % for 2015. Denmark DK: Smoking Prevalence: Females: % of Adults data is updated yearly, averaging 22.200 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 34.000 % in 2000 and a record low of 19.300 % in 2016. Denmark DK: Smoking Prevalence: Females: % of Adults data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Denmark – Table DK.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Prevalence of smoking, female is the percentage of women ages 15 and over who currently smoke any tobacco product on a daily or non-daily basis. It excludes smokeless tobacco use. The rates are age-standardized.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

Among the shown European countries, Turkey had the highest share of men who smoked daily as of 2023, at over ** percent. France had the highest share of female smokers, with over a ***** of women smoking in the country.

Historical dataset showing Denmark smoking rate by year from 2000 to 2022.

This data shows the percentage of adults (age 18 and over) who are current smokers.

Smoking is the single biggest cause of preventable death and illnesses, and big inequalities exist between and within communities. Smoking is a major risk factor for many diseases, such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, bronchitis and emphysema) and heart disease. It is also associated with cancers in other organs.

Smoking is a modifiable lifestyle risk factor. Preventing people from starting smoking is important in reducing the health harms and inequalities.

This data is based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS). The percentage of adults is not age-standardised. In this dataset particularly at district level there may be inherent statistical uncertainty in some data values. Thus as with many other datasets, this data should be used together with other data and resources to obtain a fuller picture.

Data source: Public Health England, Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) indicator 92443 (Number 15). This data is updated annually.

Annual data and annual historic data on the proportion of adults who currently smoke, the proportion of ex-smokers and the proportion of those who have never smoked, by sex and age.

This statistical bulletin presents a range of information on smoking which are drawn together from a variety of sources. The bulletin aims to present a broad picture of health issues relating to smoking in England and covers topics such as smoking habits and behaviours among adults and school children, smoking and pregnancy, European comparisons of smoking prevalence, smoking-related ill health and mortality and smoking-related costs. This bulletin combines data from different sources presenting it in a user-friendly format. Most of the data contained in the bulletin have been published previously including information from the Information Centre, Department of Health, the Office for National Statistics, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs, the European Commission and the European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs. For the first time the bulletin includes information on the economic activity status of adults who smoke, the extent smoking is allowed in people's homes and information on people's views towards the smoking ban in public places. For children, the bulletin now includes data on smoking and substance use, and truancy and exclusion, as well as comparisons for ethnicity and among European countries. In addition to the various costs of smoking included in last year's bulletin, this year some information on smoking related costs to the NHS are also included.

Austria AT: Smoking Prevalence: Males: % of Adults data was reported at 30.900 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 32.200 % for 2015. Austria AT: Smoking Prevalence: Males: % of Adults data is updated yearly, averaging 35.700 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 54.700 % in 2000 and a record low of 30.900 % in 2016. Austria AT: Smoking Prevalence: Males: % of Adults data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Austria – Table AT.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. Prevalence of smoking, male is the percentage of men ages 15 and over who currently smoke any tobacco product on a daily or non-daily basis. It excludes smokeless tobacco use. The rates are age-standardized.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

The European Union and its Member States have been working to reduce the use of tobacco and related products through a range of measures, including regulating tobacco and related products, restricting the advertising and sponsorship of tobacco and related products, implementing smoke-free environments and running anti-smoking campaigns. The European Commission regularly carries out public opinion polls to monitor Europeans' attitudes to a range of tobacco-related issues. Less than a quarter (23%) of the respondents smoke boxed cigarettes, cigars, cigarillos or a pipe, a decrease by three percentage points since 2017. 14% of respondents have at least tried e-cigarettes once or twice, while around one in twenty (6%) say the same for heated tobacco products.

The results by volumes are distributed as follows:

• Volume A: Countries
• Volume AA: Groups of countries
• Volume A' (AP): Trends
• Volume AA' (AAP): Trends of groups of countries
• Volume B: EU/socio-demographics
• Volume B' (BP) : Trends of EU/ socio-demographics
• Volume C: Country/socio-demographics ---- Researchers may also contact GESIS - Leibniz Institute for the Social Sciences: https://www.gesis.org/eurobarometer

Austria AT: Smoking Prevalence: Total: % of Adults: Aged 15+ data was reported at 29.600 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 30.600 % for 2015. Austria AT: Smoking Prevalence: Total: % of Adults: Aged 15+ data is updated yearly, averaging 33.600 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 49.100 % in 2000 and a record low of 29.600 % in 2016. Austria AT: Smoking Prevalence: Total: % of Adults: Aged 15+ data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Austria – Table AT.World Bank: Health Statistics. Prevalence of smoking is the percentage of men and women ages 15 and over who currently smoke any tobacco product on a daily or non-daily basis. It excludes smokeless tobacco use. The rates are age-standardized.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

BackgroundTobacco consumption is the largest avoidable health risk. Understanding changes of smoking over time and across populations is crucial to implementing health policies. We evaluated trends in smoking initiation between 1970 and 2009 in random samples of European populations.MethodsWe pooled data from six multicentre studies involved in the Ageing Lungs in European Cohorts consortium, including overall 119,104 subjects from 17 countries (range of median ages across studies: 33–52 years). We estimated retrospectively trends in the rates of smoking initiation (uptake of regular smoking) by age group, and tested birth cohort effects using Age-Period-Cohort (APC) modelling. We stratified all analyses by sex and region (North, East, South, West Europe).ResultsSmoking initiation during late adolescence (16–20 years) declined for both sexes and in all regions (except for South Europe, where decline levelled off after 1990). By the late 2000s, rates of initiation during late adolescence were still high (40–80 per 1000/year) in East, South, and West Europe compared to North Europe (20 per 1000/year). Smoking initiation rates during early adolescence (11–15 years) showed a marked increase after 1990 in all regions (except for North European males) but especially in West Europe, where they reached 40 per 1000/year around 2005. APC models supported birth cohort effects in the youngest cohorts.ConclusionSmoking initiation is still unacceptably high among European adolescents, and increasing rates among those aged 15 or less deserve attention. Reducing initiation in adolescents is fundamental, since youngsters are particularly vulnerable to nicotine addiction and tobacco adverse effects.

This statistic depicts the prevalence of tobacco smokers worldwide from 2000 to 2025, by country income group. According to the data, it is projected that the prevalence of tobacco smokers in high-income countries will drop from 33.6 percent in 2000 to 20.5 percent in 2025.