Going smoke free would increase life expectancy around the world and prevent millions of premature deaths by 2050, new research shows.
The research, published in scientific journal The Lancet, shows that reducing smoking levels to under five per cent (when a country can officially be declared ‘smoke free’) would increase global life expectancy by one year for men and by 0.2 years for women.
This means average life expectancy would increase to 77·1 years for men and 80.8 years for women by 2050 - equivalent to an additional 735 million and 141 million more healthy years respectively.
“Our analysis shows that large population health gains can be achieved by accelerating progress towards smoking elimination,” the report says. “This level of benefit is rare from a single, feasible intervention.”
The report says that smoking is “the leading behavioural risk factor for mortality globally”, accounting for more than 175 million deaths and nearly 4·30 billion years of life lost from 1990 to 2021.
Countries promoting vaping first to be smoke free
The findings come as Sweden and New Zealand - which both promote vaping as a far healthier alternative to smoking - are set to become the first countries to achieve smoke-free status.
Dr. Delon Human, leader of global health campaign group Smoke Free Sweden, said: “This research further underscores the importance of implementing sensible and progressive measures to reduce the smoking burden.
“As seen in countries like Sweden, the integration of harm reduction in public policy, and ensuring smokers have access to less harmful alternatives, such as e-cigarettes, is key to combating the deadly toll of cigarettes.”
Smoking rates in Sweden have dropped by a massive 55 per cent over the past decade, thanks to progressive policies supporting alternative nicotine products such as vapes, nicotine pouches and snus.
Compared to the rest of the European Union, Sweden has 44 per cent fewer tobacco-related deaths, a 41 per cent lower cancer rate, and 38 per cent fewer deaths attributable to any cancer. Key to this success has been the widespread acceptance of reduced-risk alternative products.
“Traditional tobacco control is not enough to bring down smoking rates. It must be complemented by a comprehensive set of harm reduction measures, including making less harmful alternative products more accessible, acceptable, and affordable,” added Dr. Human.
Meanwhile New Zealand has halved its smoking rates in just five years by supporting adult smokers to switch to vaping.
A recent report - ‘Quitting Strong: New Zealand’s Smoking Cessation Success Story’ - shows that promoting vapes as a safer alternative to smoking has led to a remarkable drop in smoking rates - from 16.4 per cent in 2011 to six per cent in 2023.
