Recently, the Swedish government announced that the country’s smoking rate has dropped to 5.6%, becoming the first country in Europe to achieve a “smoke-free state”. This means that Sweden has achieved the goal of “A Smoke-Free Europe by 2040” proposed by the European Union in 2021, 17 years ahead of schedule.
Smoking rates in Sweden have been on the decline for decades. In 1963, there were 1.9 million smokers in Sweden, and 49% of men used cigarettes. Today, the total number of smokers has decreased by 80%. Key to this achievement is the adoption of harm reduction strategies that encourage smokers to switch to less harmful alternatives such as e-cigarettes.
An electronic cigarette is a device that generates vapor by heating a liquid, which can simulate the feeling of smoking, but without harmful substances such as tar. In 2015, an authoritative international study confirmed that e-cigarettes are 95% less harmful than cigarettes. Since then, e-cigarettes have exploded in popularity in Sweden, with the proportion of users rising from 7% in 2015 to 12% in 2020.
In addition to e-cigarettes, another harm reduction product that has become popular in Sweden is snus. Snuff is a product in which tobacco in powder or pellet form is placed in the mouth or nostrils to provide a nicotine boost without second-hand smoke. It is estimated that approximately 20% of adult males and 5% of adult females currently use snus.
Public health experts pointed out that harm reduction strategies are not only conducive to improving personal health, but also help to reduce social medical costs. They called on other countries in the world to learn from Sweden’s experience and promote harm reduction products such as e-cigarettes in order to save more lives.
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