Europe is the region with the highest smoking rate in the world, where an average of 25.9 percent of the population over 15 years of age uses tobacco products, according to data from the "Brilliant Maps" platform based on the World Health Organization's (WHO) global report on trends in tobacco and nicotine use from 2000 to 2022, with projections until 2030.
The Balkan countries are among the European countries with the highest smoking rates. The highest number of active smokers is recorded in Bulgaria and Serbia, where 39.5 percent of the population uses tobacco. This is followed by Croatia with 37 percent, Greece with 32.8 percent, Slovakia with 32.4 percent, Hungary with 32.2 percent and Romania with 30 percent, which is significantly above the European average.
In Western Europe, smoking rates are lower, but with significant differences between countries. The highest percentage is recorded in France, at 34.6 percent, which is above the European average and close to the levels of the Balkan countries. The data for young people are worrying, especially in relation to e-cigarettes and new nicotine products. More than 100 million people worldwide use e-cigarettes, and in some European countries the rates among adolescents aged 13 to 15 are higher than among adults.
The WHO report shows that, despite a global decline in the number of tobacco users, from 1.38 billion in 2000 to an estimated 1.2 billion in 2024, tobacco use remains a serious threat to public health. The European region is the only one not expected to reach the 30 percent target set in the WHO Global Action Plan, and Europe is projected to remain with the highest tobacco prevalence, at over 23 percent, by 2030.
Data shows that 18 percent of deaths from non-communicable diseases in Europe in 2019 were linked to tobacco use, meaning that almost one in five premature deaths could be avoided if smoking were eliminated.
In the Republic of North Macedonia, data from the Institute of Public Health (IPH) for World No Tobacco Day last year show that 45.4 percent of the population are active smokers, which is significantly above the European Union average and places the country among the countries with the highest smoking rates in the world.
According to the IHP, participation in smoking cessation counseling, which operates within public health centers, is very low; in 2023, only 43 people sought help.
The Institute emphasizes that tobacco use seriously contributes to the harm of the general health of the population, underlining that as a result of regular tobacco use, cardiovascular, respiratory, reproductive, malignant, endocrine and many other types of diseases can occur.
The tobacco industry, according to the Institute, with all its resources, successfully fights efforts to strengthen legislation, which is in fact one of the conditions for integration into the European Union, therefore, the adaptation of laws to those of the EU is necessary for the advancement of the country.
"Although the Republic of North Macedonia ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in 2006 and over the years there have been efforts to strengthen regulations regarding tobacco use, in recent years there has been stagnation in this area with the lifting of smoking bans on terraces of premises, and the use of electronic devices that heat, but do not burn, tobacco in closed public spaces has also been allowed," the Institute emphasized on last year's World No Tobacco Day.
WHO and other international health institutions call for strengthening national and regional tobacco control policies, through increasing taxes, strictly enforcing smoking bans in public places, restricting advertising, and expanding programs to support quitting smoking.
