Smoking, which fell on an “unprecedented scale” among adults between 2014 and 2019, rose again in 2021 after stagnating in 2020, according to the results of a study by Santé Publique France published on Tuesday.
In 2021, in metropolitan France, more than three in 10 adults aged 18-75 said they smoked (31.9%) and one quarter daily (25.3%).
Compared to 2020, these figures do not show significant variations. But, compared to 2019, before the Covid crisis, the prevalence of smoking has increased (30.4% at that time).
Although, in general, it has not changed “significantly” (25.3% in 2021 compared to 24% in 2019), daily smoking has increased, for its part, among women (23% compared to 20.7%) and among those with little or no qualification (32% vs. 29%).
The data comes from the Public Health France barometer, a telephone survey of a random sample of people aged 18 to 85 residing in France (24,514 people in mainland France, 6,519 abroad), conducted between February and December 2021.
Covid-19 and socioeconomic crisis in between
To explain these results, Public Health France judges that “an impact of the social and economic crisis linked to Covid-19 cannot be excluded”.
Among women, the increase in smoking could be partly related to the greater impact of this crisis for them, according to the study.
And the psychological, economic and social consequences of the Covid crisis have been “more marked” in disadvantaged populations, where “cigarettes can be perceived as a tool to manage stress or overcome daily difficulties”.
Only one result is considered “encouraging”, but to be confirmed: the drop in daily smoking among men aged 18 to 24, in line with a downward trend in recent years among adolescents.
In addition to social inequalities that remain very marked (more daily smokers among the unemployed or workers in particular), regional differences persist.
territorial disparities
Occitanie (28.5%) and Paca (29.1%) had a higher prevalence of daily smoking in 2021 than the rest of France, Ile-de-France and the lowest Pays-de-la-Loire (22.4 %). The proportion of smokers in the Overseas Territories is lower than that of mainland France.
For e-cigarettes, use (6.7%) and daily vaping (5%) increased among adults in 2021 compared to 2020 (5.4% and 4.3% respectively), but the proportion of people aged 18 to 75 who experienced it remained stable (38.7%).
Tobacco remains the leading preventable cause of death in France, with some 75,000 deaths each year.
The goal set by the authorities is to achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2032.
Source: BFM TV
