Survey on youth smoking in the WHO European Region

The World Health Organization (WHO) European Region Office has just released the results of the Global Youth Tobacco Survey.[1]. This survey is conducted in schools, and concerns 25 countries of the WHO Euro region. It collected data on smoking among young people aged 13 to 15 in these countries as well as on the main indicators of tobacco control in these countries.

This publication[2] summarizes the results of the last three surveys in 25 countries in the WHO European Region. These are mainly countries in Central and Eastern Europe and former republics of the USSR. In Western Europe, only Italy is included in the study. The study was conducted between 2002 and 2019. The data were collected on average every 5 to 6 years depending on the country.

Tobacco: general downward trend but significant disparities between countries

Current smoking prevalence rates vary widely, ranging from 0.7% in Tajikistan (2019) to 20.4% in Bulgaria (2015). Smoking prevalence during the period 2002–2019 appears to have declined in 18 of the 25 countries studied. However, it remains very high in many countries, with particularly high prevalence observed in Belarus (26.9% in 2004 and 9.8% in 2015), Latvia (40.5% in 2011 and 23.0% in 2019), and the Czech Republic (34.7% in 2007 and 21.2% in 2016). Rates above 15% were also observed in Italy (19.8%, 2018), Slovakia (17.1%, 2016) and Lithuania (16.7%, 2018)

In other countries studied, smoking prevalence appears to be stagnating or even increasing more or less sharply. Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Turkey, Georgia, Poland, and the Republic of Macedonia have seen an increase in prevalence between 2008 and 2019.

Worrying trend in e-cigarette use

E-cigarettes are relatively new products in these markets and not all countries have assessed their use in the survey. To date, 18 countries have collected data on the prevalence of current e-cigarette use in the last survey round, and only five countries have data from two survey rounds.

The highest prevalence of current e-cigarette use was reported in Poland (23.4%, 2016), Ukraine (18.4%, 2017), Latvia (18.0%, 2019), and Italy (17.5%, 2018). Where data were available for at least two survey rounds, there appeared to be an increase between the two study periods. The prevalence of current e-cigarette use increased from 8.4 % in 2014 to 17.5 % in 2018 in Italy; from 5.7 % in 2014 to 13.2 % in 2017 in Georgia; and from 9.1 % in 2011 and 18 % in 2019 in Latvia.

The importance of the proper implementation of the Framework Convention

Tobacco use among young people in the WHO Euro Region remains a public health problem. The introduction of new tobacco and nicotine products is considered in this study report as a factor in the aggravation of the nicotine epidemic. It also highlights the challenge of protecting tobacco control policies from tobacco industry interference and a multisectoral and coordinated approach to tobacco control measures. Framework Convention to reduce this consumption.