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- In 2014, men in the EU were more likely than women to be daily smokers.
- The proportion of daily smokers in the EU in 2014 ranged from 8.7 % in Sweden to 27 % in Greece and Bulgaria.
- In 2014, 6 % of the EU population over 15 years of age consumed at least 20 cigarettes per day, and around 13 % consumed less than 20.
Among the 27 EU member states for which data are available, the proportion of daily smokers ranged from 8.7% in Sweden to 27.0% in Greece and 27.3% in Bulgaria. This comes from a report from Eurostat on the proportion of adults in the European Union (EU) who are daily smokers of cigarettes. The report says that the prevalence of smoking in many countries has stabilized or declined in recent decades. The data conducted are from the European health interview survey (EHIS) which was conducted between 2013 and 2015 and which covered persons aged 15 and over.
Among men, the proportion of daily smokers ranged from 7.5% in Sweden to 37.3% in Cyprus, while among women, the proportion ranged from 8.3% in Romania to 22.0% in Austria. In 26 of these member states the proportion of daily smokers was higher among men than among women, with Sweden as the only exception with close to 2 percentage points (pp) less of male smokers compared to female smokers. The largest gender difference, in percentage point terms, was in Lithuania and Romania, where the proportion of daily smokers among men was around 24 pp points above the share recorded among women. Gender differences in excess of 20 points were also observed in Cyprus and Latvia The smallest gender differences were observed in Finland (2 pp), the United Kingdom and Denmark (1 pp).
The proportion of daily smokers generally decreased after the age group 45–54 years
In broad terms, at EU level, the age profile of daily smokers was similar for men and women: the proportion increased between the age groups 15–24 and 25–34; for the age groups from 25–34 to 45–54 the proportion of daily smokers remained generally high; thereafter the shares fell, with by far the lowest proportion of daily smokers among the older age groups. Most of the EU member states followed this broad pattern, with the highest proportions reported between the ages of 25-54 and the lowest in the age groups over 65 More than 45% of men were daily smokers in Bulgaria in the age groups between 35-54 and also in Cyprus in the age group 25-34 and Latvia in the age groups between 35-44.
In general, the gender difference in daily smoking was greatest in percentage point terms in the age groups with the highest prevalence of smokers, while in relative terms it was greatest among the age groups with the oldest people. A notable example of the latter was Lithuania where the proportion of daily smokers in the age group over 75 was 35 times higher among men (7%) than among women (0.2%). On average, the smallest relative differences between men and women were observed in the youngest age group (15–24). For a few age groups in a few of the participating EU member states the prevalence of daily smoking among men and women was similar, or even higher among women, for example in Sweden, in the age groups over 35, in Denmark (in the 15–24, 55-64, and 65-74 age groups), and in Austria in the age group 55–64.
For women, the pattern was somewhat different, as relatively low proportions of daily smokers were reported not only for women having completed tertiary education, but also for women having completed at most lower secondary education. As such, in 19 EU member states the highest share of daily smokers among women was recorded among those having completed upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education. Looking in more detail, relatively low proportions of daily smokers were reported in Cyprus, Romania, and Lithuania for women having completed at most lower secondary education, at least 4 pp lower than for women in either of the other education categories. Equally, a relatively low proportion of daily smokers was reported in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom for women having completed tertiary education, at least 10 pp lower than the average for women in either of the other two categories.
In 2014, 5.9% of the population over 15 years of age consumed at least 20 cigarettes per day, and around 12.6% consumed less than 20. Heavy smokers made up the majority of daily smokers in Greece and also in Turkey, while in Sweden the share was 14% and in Finland all daily smokers consumed less than 20 cigarettes a day. Daily light smokers of cigarettes accounted for a fairly similar share of the total adult population in most of the EU member states, ranging from with 7.5% in Sweden, 8.3% in Denmark, and 8.8 % in Luxembourg to 16.5% in Latvia, 17.6% in Slovakia, and 19.6% in Hungary..
In 2014, close to 1 in every 7 adults in Greece were heavy smokers
In contrast, the proportion of heavy smokers in the adult population varied somewhat more, from (the already mentioned) 0.0% in Finland, 1.2% in Sweden, and 3.6% in the United Kingdom to 10.0% in Poland, 11.8% in Croatia, 12.1% in Cyprus, and 12.7% in Bulgaria, peaking at 15.1% in Greece. In line with the general pattern for all daily smokers, men were more likely than women to be heavy smokers
Among men, the proportion of heavy smokers within the adult population was 10.7% or less in 18 EU member states, while it exceeded one fifth in Cyprus and Greece. Among women, this proportion did not exceed 10.0% in any member state, with shares of 1.2% or lower in Romania, Sweden, Lithuania, and Finland, and 6.5% or over in Bulgaria, Croatia, and Austria, while peaking at 9.4% in Greece.