Consumption and perception of tobacco and nicotine products in the EU

The Eurobarometer survey on "Attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco and nicotine products", published in June 2024, provides a set of data on the consumption, attitudes and beliefs of citizens of the 27 Member States of the European Union, on all tobacco and nicotine products.

For this survey, a representative sample of 26,358 people aged 15 and over were interviewed between May and June 2023, including 1,003 French people and 1,038 Belgians.[1].

State of consumption

Consumption of tobacco and nicotine products

According to the Eurobarometer, 25% of Europeans report consuming a tobacco or nicotine product at least once a month. Bulgaria (38%), Greece (37%) and Croatia (36%) have the highest prevalence in the European Union. Conversely, Sweden has the lowest prevalence, with less than 10% of occasional or daily users (9%), followed by the Netherlands (12%) and Denmark (15%). Together with Portugal, Belgium has the seventh lowest prevalence in the European Union (21%), while France has the highest level of users in Western Europe (30%).

Smoking prevalence

The survey estimates that there are 24% daily or occasional tobacco users in the European Union. Bulgaria (37%), Greece (36%) and Croatia (35%) again have the highest prevalence, while Sweden has the lowest rate of smokers (8%). Overall, smoking prevalence has fallen by one percentage point in the European Union since the last survey in 2020. Over the same period, eleven Member States have seen their smoking prevalence fall, while an identical number of countries have seen an increase in consumption, and five have not seen any change. The Czech Republic stands out for the largest reduction in smoking prevalence, falling from 30% to 23% in three years. Conversely, with respective prevalences estimated at 32% and 25%, Estonia and Austria report an increase of seven points. In France, smoking prevalence has fallen by one point (27%), while it remains at an equivalent level in Belgium (21%).

Regular tobacco use before the age of 18

On average, within the European Union, 55% of current smokers surveyed reported having used tobacco regularly before the age of 18. Of the 27 Member States, only nine have a majority of smokers who became regular users after the age of 18. These figures demonstrate the paediatric nature of the tobacco epidemic, and highlight the strategies of tobacco industry targeting of youth.

Daily consumption and tobacco products consumed daily

According to the survey figures, 86% of tobacco users are daily smokers. Among the smokers surveyed, 69% report consuming manufactured cigarettes daily, and 18% rolling tobacco. Daily consumption of cigarillos, cigars and pipes concerns only 1% of smokers respectively. In France and Belgium, respectively 72% and 84% of smokers are daily consumers. Daily consumption of manufactured cigarettes concerns 53% of Belgian smokers and 60% of French smokers, while that of rolling tobacco is reported by 22% of consumers in Belgium and 27% in France. In both countries, 2% of smokers consume cigarillos daily, and 1% cigars.

Volumes consumed daily

On average, respondents reported consuming 14 units of tobacco per day across the European Union. In total, 8% of tobacco users reported consuming the equivalent of more than one packet per day (more than 20 units of tobacco). Finland and Sweden recorded the lowest average consumption volumes, with 10 units of tobacco consumed daily. Respectively, only 3% and 2% of smokers in these two countries reported smoking more than one packet per day. Conversely, Greece is the Member State where smokers report having the highest daily consumption, with 18 units of tobacco per day, followed by Bulgaria, Romania and Austria (17 units). In the latter, 23% of smokers reported smoking on average more than one packet per day. With 12 units of tobacco per day, the volumes consumed in France and Belgium are below the European average. Finally, 5% and 6% of consumers in these two countries report smoking the equivalent of more than a pack per day.

New and other tobacco and nicotine products

Consumption of electronic cigarettes

In the 2023 survey, 3% of all respondents reported being e-cigarette users, two percentage points more than in 2020. Estonia and Latvia are among the European Union countries where these devices are most widely used, with a prevalence of 9% and 8% respectively. Conversely, Portugal has a rate of users below 1%. In France and Belgium, the prevalence is estimated at 7% and 4%, an increase of one percentage point since 2020.

Among the people who indicated that they were consumers of electronic cigarettes, 67% mentioned consuming at least once a month devices with a tank refillable with liquid (42% in Belgium, 79% in France). These same consumers are also 24% to consume at least once a month electronic cigarettes with pods in the European Union (34% in Belgium, 9% in France), and 24% disposable electronic cigarettes – also called puffs (61% in Belgium, 13% in France).

Consumption of heated tobacco

Heated tobacco consumption remains at relatively low levels in the European Union (2%), although it can reach a prevalence of 5% in Portugal, Cyprus and Lithuania. The Belgian prevalence is estimated at 1%, while France, Sweden, Finland, Malta and Denmark have residual consumption (rounded to 0%). The average volume consumed by heated tobacco users, estimated at 12 sticks per day in the European Union, varies greatly between Member States, ranging from 4 for Sweden and Belgium to 17 for Greece.

Consumption of nicotine pouches

Recently appeared on the European market, only eight countries at the time of the study reported consumption of nicotine pouches: Denmark, Estonia, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Austria, Finland, Sweden. The latter stands out for its higher consumption than the other countries, with 6% daily consumers, and 9% daily or occasional consumers. This situation is explained by the fact that Sweden is the European Union country where snus is traditionally consumed, explaining the highest acceptance of nicotine pouches in the country, whose consumption methods are similar.

Snus, chewing tobacco and snorting tobacco

These products do not fall into the category of new tobacco products, and their consumption remains at low levels and concentrated in six countries. Sweden, the only country where the marketing of snus is legal within the European Union, records 12% consumers of one of these three tobacco products. In the other countries, consumption is at relatively residual levels: Austria (6%), Italy (3%), Finland (2%), Denmark and Malta (1%).

Exposure to advertising, attractiveness and product representation

Electronic cigarettes

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On average, across the European Union, 20% of respondents surveyed by the investigators reported having been exposed to advertising for e-cigarettes. However, these results differ significantly between Member States, with 2% of respondents in Portugal and 4% in Romania reporting such exposure, while the latter was reported by 42% of respondents in Sweden and 35% of respondents in Slovakia. In Belgium, 18% of respondents reported having been exposed to advertising for e-cigarettes. In France, this proportion reaches 31% of respondents, while advertising for these products is illegal, with the exception of strictly informative posters at the point of sale, not visible from the outside.

Attractiveness

However, e-cigarettes are considered attractive devices by only 5% of respondents in the European Union. This attractiveness is most emphasized by respondents in Romania (15%) and Malta (14%), while only 1% of Dutch and Swedish respondents consider e-cigarettes attractive. In France and Belgium, this proportion reaches 5%.

Representation and withdrawal

Overall, 12% of respondents believed in 2023 that e-cigarettes are a device to help people quit smoking, a drop of four points since the last survey in 2020. In Italy, almost one in four respondents consider that e-cigarettes are a tool to help people quit, a drop of fifteen points compared to the previous survey. In Belgium and France, this proportion reaches 19%, falling by 6 and 7 points respectively since 2020. This representation is not widely shared in Latvia and Portugal (6% of respondents).

Heated tobacco

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Across the European Union, 30% of respondents said they had been exposed to one or more advertisements for heated tobacco. This proportion reaches up to 52% of the population in Romania. In France, 14% of respondents said they had been exposed to these advertisements regularly, from time to time or rarely, compared to 23% in Belgium. However, tobacco advertising is prohibited in both countries.

Attractiveness

Only 3% of respondents consider heated tobacco as attractive. However, these results vary greatly, since this attractiveness is highlighted by 16% of respondents in Romania, but by only 1% of respondents in seven Member States, including Belgium and France.

Representation: withdrawal and harm reduction

In total, 8% of respondents in the European Union believe that heated tobacco is a device to help people quit smoking. This proportion reaches up to 19% of respondents in Italy and 18% in Finland, compared to only 5% in France and 7% in Belgium.

It is also interesting to note that the strategy of instrumentalising the concept of risk reduction by manufacturers seems to have some effectiveness, since 32% of consumers of heated tobacco in the European Union indicated that they had started using these products because of their supposed lower harmfulness. However, no independent study shows that the consumption of heated tobacco is accompanied by a reduction in risks for the smoker. This argument of lower harmfulness is mentioned by 46% of French consumers and by 9% of Belgian consumers, as a reason explaining their initiation to heated tobacco.

A majority of polyconsumers

The survey results seem to confirm that heated tobacco cannot be considered as a smoking cessation tool. Indeed, across the European Union, 31% of heated tobacco users indicated that this new tobacco product had enabled them to stop smoking traditional tobacco products. However, 6% mentioned that heated tobacco had enabled them to stop smoking traditional tobacco only temporarily. For 24% of respondents, heated tobacco had simply enabled them to reduce their consumption of traditional tobacco, while 34% of heated tobacco users considered that their consumption of traditional tobacco had not changed. The survey even shows that 2% of heated tobacco users reported an increase in their consumption of traditional tobacco. In other words, 69% of heated tobacco users continue to smoke traditional tobacco products, thus exposing themselves to a double risk.

Nicotine pouches

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The results show that 16% of respondents in the European Union claim to have been exposed to advertising for nicotine pouches. This proportion varies greatly between Member States, ranging from 5% in the Netherlands to 44% in Sweden. In France and Belgium, these proportions reach 9% and 14% respectively. Commercial and advertising strategies in favour of these products are regularly pointed out by the National Committee against Smoking, which is calling for a ban on it, as has been implemented in Belgium.

Attractiveness

Only 1% of respondents from the European Union consider these products to be attractive. This proportion remains relatively low across all Member States, ranging from 4% in Romania and Slovakia to 0% for France, Greece and Denmark.

Exposure to passive smoking

The survey also looks at the exposure of populations to passive smoking in places of collective use. The tables below summarize the results, showing the proportion of the population who reported being exposed to passive smoking in the six months preceding the survey, in each of the following configurations.

[1] European Union, Attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco and related products, June 2024, (accessed 07/24/2024)