Survey. The smoking habits of the French
November 4, 2020
Par: communication@cnct.fr
Dernière mise à jour: November 4, 2020
Temps de lecture: 3 minutes
On the occasion of No Tobacco Month, Public Health France is publishing new figures relating to smoking in France. These data, collected by the 2018 Public Health France Barometer[1], in particular decipher the consumption habits of the French, in order to enable better tobacco prevention.
As the Barometer highlights, 74% of occasional smokers surveyed say they consume manufactured cigarettes (including 51.6% exclusively), more than a third use rolling tobacco (35.7%, including 16.2% exclusively), 6.6% use cigarillos (including 1.3% exclusively), pipes (1.8% including 0.2% exclusively), while nearly 10% use hookah occasionally, including 4.1% exclusively.
Manufactured cigarettes and rolling tobacco: taxes and consumption dynamics
The proportion of consumers of manufactured cigarettes increased from 88.2 % in 2010 to 74% in 2018, while that of rolling tobacco increased from 24% to 35.2% between 2010 and 2014. In other words, a transfer mechanism took place between manufactured cigarettes and rolling tobacco. These differences are largely explained by the fact that some tax increases did not apply to rolling tobacco. These figures demonstrate that to be effective, tax increases must apply to all tobacco products.
Since 2016, these gaps have been significantly reduced. The price of the best-selling pack of cigarettes increased by 13% between 2016 and 2018. In the same period, the price of the best-selling pack of rolling tobacco increased by 42%. This tax catch-up has helped to stabilize the consumption of rolling tobacco.
Rolling tobacco: a typical profile identified
Rolling tobacco smokers are mostly men (58% versus 42%), and generally younger (25% are between 25 and 34 years old, 12% are between 55 and 64 years old). Its consumption is more observed among disadvantaged social and professional categories (58% have a diploma lower than that of the baccalaureate, and 49% of rolled tobacco smokers are among the 33% of French people with the lowest incomes). These figures demonstrate the importance of price in tobacco consumption choices, and the importance of a generalized increase in prices to avoid consumption transfers.
Keywords: Survey, consumption
[1] Public Health France: #MonthWithoutTabac: types of tobacco consumed and tax increases seen by the French, October 27, 2020, (accessed 10/30/2020)
