The number of smokers continues to decline in Luxembourg

The number of smokers in Luxembourg will fall further in 2024, according to a survey of 3,036 Luxembourgers aged 16 and over, published in March 2025.[1]In 2024, 23 % of respondents declared themselves smokers compared to 27 % in 2023. This proportion now represents approximately 123,000 people. The smoking prevalence is 15 % daily smokers and 8 % occasional smokers. The country, on the other hand, is characterized by a high rate of passive smoking and the market tends to be flooded with new vaping and nicotine products.

In Luxembourg, support for quitting smoking

The Cancer Foundation, which commissioned this study from Ilres in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Social Security, welcomes this continued decline in smoking. At the same time, more and more residents want to quit smoking: 46% say they want to quit, a figure that rises to 62% among 16-24 year-olds. One in two young people has already tried to quit, compared to 34% in the population as a whole.

As part of World No Tobacco Day, on May 31, 2025, a campaign will be launched to support people wishing to quit. Information cards with a QR code redirecting to a platform listing cessation support facilities will be distributed in hospitals and doctors' offices.

However, concerns about new nicotine products

The study, however, highlights the continued high levels of passive smoking, with 38% of residents reporting exposure to it indoors, and 71% outdoors, particularly on terraces or at bus stops. Nearly a third of young people are exposed to it daily, which contributes to making tobacco use commonplace and facilitates initiation.

Furthermore, the Cancer Foundation warns of the sharp rise in the consumption of alternative nicotine products among young people. The survey reveals that 26% of 16- to 24-year-olds use e-cigarettes, and 16% use nicotine pouches.[2].

Among young vapers, disposable "puffs" are by far the most popular, accounting for 93,100 users. The Foundation is particularly concerned about the rise of nicotine pouches, considered "highly addictive," among this age group. Their use remains more limited in other age groups, with 3,100 users among those over 35.

" These results show that while traditional smoking is declining, new forms of consumption are taking over among young people. ", says Margot Heirendt, director of the Cancer Foundation. She adds that " It is essential to regulate these new nicotine products to protect our youth from the dangers they represent. »

A bill plans to ban the sale of nicotine pouches to minors, limit their advertising, ban attractive flavors and set a maximum nicotine level.

Luxembourg was one of the first countries to become a Party to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in 2005, but the country is heavily influenced by the tobacco industry, which oversupply the country with tobacco products to feed French smokers, promoting cross-border purchases. In addition, many non-compliant vaping products are on sale there, in particular “puffs”, these disposable e-cigarettes, banned from sale in France since February 26, 2025.

©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1]Cancer Foundation, Smoking prevalence in Luxembourg in 2024, published March 2025, accessed May 23, 2025

[2]Cancer Foundation, Smoking in Luxembourg 2024 | Signs of decline, but growing concern for young people, published May 22, 2025, accessed May 23, 2025

National Committee Against Smoking |