Tobacco industry lobbies are worried. Figures published this Tuesday, May 26 by Santé Publique France show that the French are less and less addicted to cigarettes since a general "sharp drop" in smoking in 2014. And especially among women.
Today 20.7% of women smoke every day. They were 22.9% a year earlier.
It is thanks to a telephone survey of 10,000 people that the public body has been able to note over the last five years a drop in the prevalence of smoking, responsible for 75,000 deaths per year in France (2015 figures) , according to AFP.
In 2019, 30.4% of French people aged 18 to 75 said that they smoked, at least occasionally, against 34.3% between 2014. For daily smoking, the figure dropped to 24%, compared to 28.5% in 2014 .
"It is the first time since the early 2000s that a decline of this magnitude has been noted," insists Santé Publique France in its epidemiological bulletin published before World No Tobacco Day, Sunday May 31.
In 2018, daily smokers, aged 18 to 75, smoked an average of 12.5 cigarettes per day. In 2014, the average consumption was 13.4 cigarettes per day, as specified in La Dépèche.
Public Health France estimates that the measures implemented in recent years (the gradual increase in the price of cigarettes: the package of Marlboro, the most sold brand in France, exceeds 10 euros since November 2019, the neutral package without logo, reimbursement niconitic substitutes …) “probably contributed” to this drop.
According to them, it is therefore necessary "to continue the amplification of actions to combat smoking, by reinforcing those likely to reduce the still marked social inequalities".
Shadow of the picture: social inequalities. The number of people who indicated that they were smoking at any given time shows a gap of 17 points between the unemployed and the employed. "The fight against social inequalities in the face of smoking remains one of the major challenges for the years to come," indicates Santé Publique France.
Robot portrait of the typical smoker
The bulletin was able to draw a general portrait of the smoker. They are mainly men (54%), who are under 55 years of age (81%), in socio-economic precariousness (less qualified, twice as unemployed) and “in poor mental health” (anxiety, depressive episodes, chronic insomnia …).
“These data are particularly useful in the fight against smoking. In fact, the more we know our targets, the more we can adjust our prevention strategies ”, commented Viêt Nguyen Thanh, head of the addictions unit at Public Health France, interviewed by AFP.
Another study in the bulletin points out that in 2015, 21% of hospitalizations for these diseases (myocardial infarction, heart failure …) were attributable to smoking, ie 250,000, a “considerable” share for the study which notes that these hospitalizations concern patients from the age of 15 years.
Tobacco is responsible for one in eight deaths in France
