Eleven euros in 2023, 11.50 in 2024, then 12 in 2025 and 13 in 2026… The announced increase in the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes will be one of the cornerstones of the anti-smoking plan presented this Tuesday, November 28 by the Minister of Health Aurélien Rousseau. The increase in tobacco prices “is indeed the most effective measure against tobacco according to the WHO and all independent studies on the subject”, recalled the minister during a press conference.
This January 1, the average price of a packet of cigarettes is expected to increase by 40 to 50 cents, to exceed 11.50 euros, according to estimates from the Confederation of Tobacconists. This new increase in package prices was calculated on the basis of the expected increase in inflation, and not on a voluntary increase in taxation by the government, which will not begin until the following year.
Its price has been increasing since the 2000s
A strategy that has proven itself so far, since the sale of cigarette packs has continued to decline as its price increases since the 2000s. While tobacconists sold around 55,000 million units of cigarettes in 2010 for an average price of 5.65 euros per pack, this figure has dropped to around 32,000 million units sold in 2021.
More smoke-free space and ban on puffs
But the price increase is not the only measure of the government’s anti-smoking plan, while tobacco remains the leading cause of avoidable mortality in France, with 75,000 deaths per year. “Tobacco bans” will be the second pillar of this national strategy, with the objective of “building the first tobacco-free generation by 2032” in France, as Emmanuel Macron has committed to doing.
Tobacco-free spaces will thus be generalized to all beaches, public parks, forests, and around certain public places, notably schools, announced Aurélien Rousseau. The objective is in particular to prevent the entry into smoking, in particular among the youngest and to better support smokers in quitting smoking, especially the poorest.
The ban on “puffs”
Furthermore, “as the Prime Minister committed, we will ban puffs, an aberration of both public and environmental health”, announced the Minister of Health and Prevention. The ban on the sale of these disposable vaping products (puffs), popular in particular among young people, will be done “thanks to a transpartisan bill”, examined by the deputies in committee this Tuesday afternoon and in the hemicycle on December 4.