Smoking "in sharp decline" in France: 4 million fewer daily smokers in 10 years

These are more than encouraging figures. Since 2014, Public Health France reports in its 2024 barometer published this Wednesday, October 15, France has recorded 4 million fewer daily smokers .

While tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in the country - it kills 75,000 people per year, representing 13% of deaths - smoking is "significantly down compared to 2021," the health agency said.

In 2024, among 18-75 year-olds, the agency counts 24% of tobacco smokers and 17.4% daily smokers, compared to 32% and 25% respectively in 2021. According to it, "these declines are part of a trend that began in 2016" and which likely continued until 2019, before stabilizing. In 2023, the decline resumed.

On the other hand, the study's figures reveal the existence of disparities and inequalities in the face of this addiction depending on the region and the social environment of the individuals surveyed. The poorest French people are thus more likely to smoke (and to smoke daily) if they live in the south of the country rather than in the north.

Compared to the average for other regions, daily smoking is highest in the Grand Est (19.8%), Occitanie (20.6%) and Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur (20.9%) regions. This is mainly due to cultural factors and proximity to neighboring countries where the price of cigarettes is lower than in mainland France.

A locally marked addiction that is also observed among the most disadvantaged populations such as workers (25.1%) or the unemployed. In this last category, Public Health France notes 29.7% of smokers.

"The prevalence of daily smoking is significantly higher when the level of education is lower," the barometer details.

Also, 19.2% of working people smoke, including 11.8% who are executives or work in higher intellectual professions. It should be noted that 8.8% of retirees and 12.2% of students are smokers in France in 2024.

This is another interesting piece of data from the barometer. Indeed, more than half of daily smokers, or 55% of them, say they want to quit smoking, and 17.3% say they have tried to quit for at least one week in the last twelve months.

"As observed in 2021, attempts to quit are more frequent among socio-economically more advantaged smokers, and particularly among the most highly educated," the survey details.

With each new attempt, Public Health France reminds us, the chances of becoming a non-smoker increase considerably. They are multiplied by five. These attempts therefore provide a solid foundation for ultimately achieving a real cessation of smoking.

Furthermore, and prevention is no stranger to this, the barometer figures seem to indicate that tobacco sales are falling steadily in France. They are down 24% between 2021 and 2024.

In many cases, completely quitting smoking is initiated by strong national preventive measures such as " No Tobacco Month ." The primary objective of health authorities is, through these actions, to generate quit attempts among the population lasting at least 30 days. Once this milestone is reached, smokers defuse and unlearn a number of reflexes linked to smoking. "Changing your smoking habits" is, moreover, one of the tips from Tabac info service for successfully quitting.