Cigarettes are hardly common in Sweden anymore.Image: keystone
Sweden is the first country in the world to reduce the proportion of the population who regularly consume cigarettes to less than 5 percent. The country is thus achieving a long-standing goal. However, nicotine replacement products are widespread among Scandinavians.
May 26, 2026, 04:41May 26, 2026, 04:42
According to the latest report from the Swedish Narcotics Authority, only 4.8 percent of the Swedish population still consumes drugs CAN cigarettes every day. This means that the country has fallen below the 5 percent mark, but according to the official definition of the World Health Authority (WHO), a country is considered smoke-free.
According to the CAN authority, Sweden has been able to continuously reduce the proportion in recent decades. According to CAN research director Mats Ramstedt, the number of smokers has been declining since the late 1970s, as he explains to the Swedish news agency TT. At the beginning of the 1980s, over 30 percent of Swedes smoked every day, in 2003 it was 16 percent and in 2025 it will now be 4.8.
Ramstedt sees two main reasons for the reduction, which was also defined as a goal by Swedish politicians: comprehensive preventive measures such as advertising bans and massive price increases.
«The first and perhaps most important point is that availability has been drastically reduced. Smoking is now both more difficult and more expensive.”
Since 2003, the cost of smoking in Sweden has risen by a total of 45 percent due to additional taxes and inflation.
Consumption is declining – but is also shifting
Nicotine replacement products, especially snus, also play a factor that should not be underestimated. The small pouches that are placed behind the upper lip are extremely popular in Scandinavia. According to the CAN report, 24 percent of Swedes continue to consume nicotine daily – the proportions have simply shifted significantly from cigarettes to snus and e-cigarettes. In particular, the proportion of women who snuff has increased significantly in the past 20 years, rising from 4 percent in 2007 to 14 percent in 2024.
While the devastating health consequences of cigarette consumption have been well researched, there is still a lack of meaningful long-term studies on snus. In addition to the nicotine-related health risks and the high addiction factor, the pouches are also associated with increased risks of oral cancer in particular, but also other forms of cancer such as pancreatic cancer.
The WHO last year expressly warned of the dangers of the addictive substance, which is particularly popular among young people, and called for measures to be taken against the rapidly increasing number of users worldwide.
The Swedish research director Mats Ramstedt only wants to attribute the decline in smoking in his country to a limited extent to the emergence of snus:
“It’s important to remember that cigarette consumption had already fallen sharply before we saw this increase in snus consumption. “That goes against the idea that snus is a crucial factor in reducing smoking.”
According to him, prevention measures play the central role instead. However, he admitted that further research into the replacement products is needed and that this “could provide useful insights”.
Switzerland is currently lagging behind Sweden in reducing the proportion of smokers. However, the proportion is also declining. According to data published in 2024 Federal Statistical Office By 2022, 24 percent of the population in Switzerland still smoked, 16 percent of them daily. The proportion of smokers in the group of 15 to 24 year olds fell sharply. Nicotine replacement products such as e-cigarettes and snus are also popular, especially among younger people.