World No Tobacco Day: 88k Daily Smokers in Luxembourg in 2020

Today, on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day, Luxembourg's Ministry of Healh and Fondation Cancer published figures relating to smoking in the Grand Duchy.

World No Tobacco Day is an opportunity for the Ministry of Health, in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO), to inform and educate the population about the harmful and fatal effects of active and passive smoking.

According to the WHO, the risk of developing a serious illness from COVID-19 and dying from it is up to 50% higher for smokers than for non-smokers.

"Quitting smoking is therefore the best thing smokers can do to reduce both their risk of severe COVID-19 disease and their risk of developing cancer and heart and respiratory disease", stressed Paulette Lenert, Luxembourg's Minister of Health. “Don't let tobacco take your breath away!"

In addition, tobacco consumption is the leading cause of premature and preventable death worldwide. The tobacco epidemic kills around eight million people each year; more than 1.2 million of whom are non-smokers who have been unintentionally exposed to tobacco smoke. In Luxembourg, tobaccao-related illnesses result in around 1,000 annual deaths, including 80 deaths related to passive smoking.

In accordance with the WHO theme for 2021, "Commit to Quit", the health ministry reiterated its call to smokers who wish to reduce or quit smoking to take part in the tobacco cessation assistance programme. This programme was set up in 2008 in collaboration with the National Health Fund (Caisse Nationale de Santé - CNS) to help and encourage people who wish to quit smoking. Further information is available at www.tabac-stop.lu.

Nevertheless, tobacco consumption remains high in Luxembourg. In 2020, 88,000 residents smoked daily, i.e. 17% of the population, whilst more than a quarter (26%; 135,000 residents) had smoked in the past year. These figures come from the annual survey carried out by TNS Ilres in 2020 for Fondation Cancer among 3,019 Luxembourg residents above the age of 16.

Compared to the previous year, which saw an unusually large increase (in 2019, 27% of all adult residents were smokers), the percentage of smokers in 2020 (down just 1%) has hardly changed. The 2020 statistics are thus clearly above the average of the last ten years. During the period 2011-2020, the smoking rate was above 23% only on two occasions, in 2019 and 2020. The last time a smoking rate above 25% was recorded was over fifteen years ago, in 2005.

The greatest proportion of smokers was found among young people. One-third (33%) of 18-24 year olds and 35% of 25-34 year olds smoked in 2020. Over the past ten years, the smoking rate has increased in all age groups except among 45-54 year olds. While men continued to smoke more than women, the rate is steadily increasing among the latter.

In addition to classic tobacco In the form of cigarettes, the youngest target groups represented the main regular hookah (shisha) smokers. 29% of 16-24 year olds and 17% of 25-34 year olds, i.e. a slightly lower consumption rate than that of cigarettes. The trend is however on the rise in these two age groups: in 2016, only 20% of 16-24 year olds and 7% of 25-35 year olds smoked shisha, i.e. respective increases of 9% and 10% within four years.

Fondation Cancer lamented that fewer people had admitted to wanting to quit smoking last year compared to the start of the past decade. Whilst almost half (48%) of all smokers in the TNS Ilres survey said they wanted to quit, this was the lowest rate since 2008.

Consequently, Fondation Cancer has called for Luxembourg's anti-smoking policy to be reviewed and for the introduction of additional measures aimed at considerably increasing the price of tobacco products. At the same time, prevention programmes should be extended to all levels of education, including universities. The non-profit organisation also proposed that the legislator make its contribution by imposing new rules, such as a ban on advertising of tobacco products at points of sale and the introduction of plain packaging. 

Further information and statistics are available on the Fondation Cancer website: www.maviesanstabac.lu.