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Regularly increase the price of tobacco to dissuade smokers, but also younger generations. This is one of the policies implemented by many countries to reduce smoking. But does it really work? Although a British study recently confirmed the success of such a measure, the French say they are unconvinced by its merits and its impact on consumption. And they are not more optimistic about creating the “first tobacco-free generation”, a goal they consider unachievable.
Focused this year on young people, World No Tobacco Day aims to “protect them from interference by the tobacco industry”, as the World Health Organization (WHO) announced. An action which involves raising awareness of the harms of this addiction, and which also aims to do everything possible to ensure that children and adolescents do not start smoking cigarettes. In many countries around the world, including the United Kingdom, Australia and France, this involves a policy of continually increasing tobacco prices. A measure that the French population does not believe in, given a survey* carried out by the Yomoni savings solution as part of this International Day.
Nearly three-quarters of respondents (72%) – French people aged 18 and over, smokers and non-smokers – believe that the increase in prices of tobacco products will have no influence on the decline in smoking in the country. A figure which rises to 76% for smokers and which drops to 68% for non-smokers. Only 11% of the entire panel consider that this measure can “totally” curb tobacco consumption, and 17% think that it can prove effective “but only in part”.
Note, however, that a recent study carried out on a sample of around 1,700 adults in England, smokers or former smokers, showed that the proportion of attempts to quit smoking motivated by the cost of smoking had significantly increased since the health crisis. “Since 2020, England has experienced a period of significant societal instability, mainly caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, which may have triggered changes in the reasons given by smokers for quitting,” the researchers explained at the time. .
Towards “a first generation without tobacco”?
In France, the National Tobacco Control Program (PNLT) 2023-2027 aims in particular to protect the youngest generations from the harm of tobacco with strong measures. The objective: to make tobacco products less accessible and less attractive for the entire population, particularly adolescents and young adults. But more broadly, the government intends to “build the first tobacco-free generation by 2032”. Here again, the French are skeptical. Based on the survey, more than nine out of ten respondents (94%) believe that this is unfeasible, including 96% of smokers and 91% of non-smokers.
The pessimism of the population must, however, be compared with the official figures. And the latter are clear: the French, and particularly young people, smoke less and less. According to the latest data from Public Health Barometer France, published in May 2023, daily smoking increased from 28.6% to 24.5% between 2014 and 2022 among 18-75 year olds, while the consumption of daily smokers was reduced from 13.5 to 12.6 cigarettes per day on average. The observation is even more telling among young people: daily smoking increased from 32.4% in 2014 to 15.6% in 2022 among French people aged 17. And this downward trend is also significant in terms of experimentation, going from 68.4% in 2014 to 46.5% in 2022.
If many associations are now calling for more efforts, including even more dissuasive price increases, these figures demonstrate – at least partially – the effects generated by the measures taken in recent years. On the occasion of the 2024 edition of World No Tobacco Day, the World Health Organization (WHO) recalls, however, that 37 million adolescents aged 13 to 15 still use tobacco worldwide, including 4 million in the European region of the health authority.
*Survey carried out among a representative sample of 1,002 people residing in France, aged 18 and over. Survey carried out online in May 2024 from the panel of BuzzPress respondents (27,200 people in France surveyed electronically by email and on the social networks Facebook and LinkedIn).