{"id":31590,"date":"2025-11-27T14:40:35","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:40:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/?p=31590"},"modified":"2025-11-27T14:40:40","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T14:40:40","slug":"sfp-youth-use-claim-about-sweden-doesnt-match-the-data","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/post\/sfp-youth-use-claim-about-sweden-doesnt-match-the-data\/","title":{"rendered":"SFP youth-use claim about Sweden doesn\u2019t match the data"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/div>\n

At a European Parliament hearing last week, the Smoke-Free Partnership (SFP) told MEPs that 29 per cent of Swedish 17-year-old students currently use oral nicotine products.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The figure was used to challenge Sweden\u2019s harm-reduction strategy – the same strategy that has helped drive the country\u2019s smoking rate to the lowest in the EU.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a closer look at the underlying data shows that the headline number doesn\u2019t represent what SFP suggests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What the 29 per cent actually measures<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The figure comes from the 2024 National School Survey by CAN, which samples students in the second year of upper secondary school. While this cohort is often described simply as \u201c17-year-olds,\u201d a sizable share of students have already turned 18 by the time the survey is conducted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A straightforward demographic estimate suggests around 20 per cent are already adults. Adjusting for that puts the likely prevalence of under-18 use closer to 23 per cent, not 29 per cent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCurrent use\u201d includes infrequent consumption<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SFP described the 29 per cent as \u201ccurrent use,\u201d but CAN\u2019s own breakdown shows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  • 21 per cent daily use<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Eight per cent occasional use<\/strong>, such as at parties<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Combining daily and occasional consumption gives a higher figure than regular use alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Key context missing from SFP\u2019s narrative<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    SFP drew on data from a report that also notes that snus carries \u201cgenerally lower risk than smoking\u201d, alongside specific health considerations. The omission is notable given Sweden\u2019s long-standing harm-reduction approach – an approach that has led to one of the most dramatic declines in smoking seen anywhere in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sweden\u2019s smoke-free milestone<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In October 2025, Sweden became the first country in Europe to reach smoke-free status, defined by the World Health Organisation as fewer than five per cent of the population smoking daily. Economist David Sund\u00e9n, who calculated the milestone from official statistics, said the achievement reflects a strategy built on access to safer alternatives rather than bans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Sund\u00e9n highlighted the role of consumer choice. \u201cSweden has shown that it is possible to reduce smoking rates drastically without relying only on bans. The key has been the combination of higher cigarette taxes and access to alternatives like snus. That has given people choices instead of simply being forced to quit.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Young people drove the shift earlier than the rest of the population. \u201cSweden already passed a key milestone in 2018, with Swedes aged 15 to 24 having dropped below the five per cent smoke-free threshold,\u201d Sund\u00e9n noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Europe\u2019s outlier in outcomes<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Sweden now records the lowest smoking-related mortality in the EU – 90 deaths per 100,000 people, compared with 203 per 100,000 in the UK and 660 per 100,000 in Bulgaria. Sund\u00e9n argues that if other EU countries had adopted Sweden\u2019s approach, \u201cmore than 217,000 European men could have been saved from premature death. Every year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cSweden is already where the UK and the USA hope to be in ten years\u2019 time,\u201d he added. \u201cSweden shows that it is possible to reach the targets much faster than many believe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Why it matters in Brussels<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    SFP is partly funded by the European Commission and then presents evidence to the European Parliament. When that evidence overstates underage use and leaves out risk context from the same report, it risks skewing a debate with major public-health implications – not least because the data comes from the very country that has delivered Europe\u2019s most successful decline in smoking.<\/p>\n

    \"\"<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    At a European Parliament hearing last week, the Smoke-Free Partnership (SFP) told MEPs that 29 per cent of Swedish 17-year-old students currently use oral nicotine products.\u00a0 The figure was used to challenge Sweden\u2019s harm-reduction strategy – the same strategy that has helped…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":990002,"featured_media":31591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[257],"tags":[183,186,333],"slider":[],"class_list":["post-31590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-harm-reduction","tag-nicotine","tag-sweden"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/990002"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31590"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31590\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31598,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31590\/revisions\/31598"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31590"},{"taxonomy":"slider","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/clearingtheair.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/slider?post=31590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}