Sweden is approaching “Smoke-free” goal – Tobacco reporter
Smoking in Sweden has fallen to 5.6 percent, making Sweden the only European nation close to reaching the smoke-free goal set by the EU for the 2040 goal, Swedish authorities confirmed, according to BusinessWire.
According to participants in an event organized by the Oral Nicotine Commission in Stockholm, Sweden is about to become the first country in the world to be defined as “smoke-free”, representing a proportion of less than 5 percent of the population that smokes.
Sweden’s smoking rate has fallen since the 1980s from 35 percent to below 6 percent. The second lowest smoking rate in Europe is twice that of Sweden, with the EU average at around 23 percent, four times higher than in Sweden.
“If all the smokers in the world, about 1.1 billion people, were to switch to one of them [the] less harmful alternative smokeless, nicotine-based products, it can prevent diseases and save millions of lives worldwide. Sweden has found the fire escape for smokers. We must work together to repeat the Swedish experience globally to save lives,” says Delon Human, chairman of Health Diplomats and organizer of the Oral Nicotine Commission event.
“The upcoming Swedish EU presidency is a great opportunity to share its 5 percent success story to other EU countries,” Karl Fagerström, professor, said at the event. “We hope that Sweden will be generous in sharing this knowledge internationally.”
Speakers at the conference emphasized the need for sound evidence-based policy interventions in tobacco control.