Smoking rates in Sweden have dropped dramatically since the 1980s while snus use has risen steeply, a new study has found.
The paper, published in science journal BMJ Open, reported a “substantial decline” in cigarette smoking from 1986 to 2022 of 26.3 per cent in men and 20.6 per cent in women. This led to an average of just one in 20.4 men and one in 10.3 women smoking by 2022.
Meanwhile, over the same period, the use of snus rose by 7.3 per cent among men and 12.5 per cent and women. In 2022, an average of one in 3.8 men and one in 7.7 women were using snus.
Snus, pronounced ‘snoos’, is a smokeless nicotine product, which comes loose or in pouches and is placed between the upper lip and gum. It has been banned in the EU since 1992, but Sweden negotiated an exemption when it joined in 1995.
Officially smoke free
In November, Sweden became the first country in the world to be officially declared “smoke free”. In 2024 it had a smoking rate of 4.5 per cent, putting it firmly below the five per cent mark recognised by the World Health Organisation as being smoke free.
The Nordic country has publicly credited its anti-smoking success to its pioneering approach to vaping and other nicotine alternatives such as snus that are far safer than cigarettes.
Now, the latest study – which analysed eight surveys in Northern Sweden of more than 13,000 people over 36 years – reveals the true impact that snus has had on the country’s smoking rates.
The data shows the country’s dramatic decline in smoking rates corresponds with a sharp rise in the use of snus.
The use of cigarettes compared to snus from 1986 to 2022
Source: Thirty-six-year trends (1986–2022) in cigarette smoking and snus use in northern Sweden: a cross-sectional study
The study found that the percentage of female snus users was extremely low in the first surveys but increased continuously over time, reaching a maximum of 13.0% in 2022 – a 12.5 per cent rise since 1986.
Younger women quicker to switch
Younger women also changed from smoking to snus use more dramatically than older women. Women aged 25 to 34 years decreased their cigarette use by 24.8 percentage points and increased their snus use by 20.8 percentage points between 1986 to 1990 and 2014 to 2022.
Meanwhile, women aged 55 to 64 years decreased smoking by 7.2 per cent and increased snus use by 6.2 percentage points in the same timeframe.
In contrast, the male trends were very similar in the two age groups.
The Scandinavian country hit its impressive milestone of being smoke free 16 years ahead of the European Union target, which most of its fellow member states are set to miss by some distance.
Average smoking rates in Europe currently sit at 24 per cent – five times higher than Sweden.
In June last year, Sweden slashed the tax on snus by 20 per cent and increased tax on tobacco by nine per cent, a move the government said was to reflect the lower risk of snus to public health.
The country boasts the lowest rate of tobacco-related illness and death in Europe and Swedish lung cancer deaths are less than half the European average.
