It’s a paywalled article, so here’s an archival link
“Smoke-free” in this case means fewer than 5% of people smoke daily. As of 2025 that figure stands at 4.8% in Sweden
The proportion of daily smokers dropped from 16 to 4.8 percent between 2003 and 2025, according to the new report.
Meanwhile, Sweden has seen a sharp increase in the use of snus in recent years – the small nicotine pouches popular in Sweden – a factor that the tobacco industry often highlights as a major reason for Sweden’s low proportion of smokers.
Fewer smokers is good of course, but I am not sure if the consumption of tabacco is really going down significantly. It rather seems to be moving from cigarettes to snus, which I’m not sure is a good thing.
Snus is banned in the rest of the EU. Sweden has an exemption on that ban, which they pre-emptively carved out when they were in talks for joining the EU
Fewer smokers is good of course, but I am not sure if the consumption of tabacco is really going down significantly. It rather seems to be moving from cigarettes to snus, which I’m not sure is a good thing.
It is undeniably a good thing. Smoking increases your risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease by a lot. Snus does not significantly increase your risk of lung or oropharyngeal cancer. Nor does it increase your incidence of strokes or heart attacks. Nor does it lead to copd. More important than a lot lower risks for people who choose to use tobacco products, it eliminates all adverse effects on people like me who do not want any tobacco exposure.
Sorry, wasn’t paywalled for me. Would have provided similar link otherwise.
No problem. You can edit the post’s description to add the link after the fact.
You got it covered, I’ll let you be the good guy here. 😁
Unfortunately all 4.8% seem to want to do it right below my apartment window
Synthetic nicotine (non-tobacco) snus, which are usually just called nicotine pouches or “all-white”, are not banned for consumption in the rest of the EU. A lot of countries have bans on the sale of flavoured nicotine or menthol nicotine products due to menthol cigarettes which covers a lot of all-white nicotine pouches but you can still consume them.
It’s allowed in Finland now too because too many young people were just smuggling it in from Sweden.
Nasty as shit, I see 20 year olds with rotten looking gums, leaving the packs everywhere.
But God forbid cannabis is allowed /s
Government hypocrisy. Or corruption.
Of course the EU is full of “snus” which is not tobacco-based, and merely gets nicotine from somewhere else.
The article doesn’t mention vaping, so is it included or excluded in the definition of “smoking”? Are vapes even a thing in Sweden? I know Snus are a popular alternative there.
Very much a thing here. Unfortunately.
The Swedish way to become smoke-free is however closed to all other European countries as snus which is used as an alternative is illegal everywhere else. Also they just traded one way of nicotine administration against another, though I do think it’s less harmful, but I’m not a medical professional.
So not as incredible as this headline makes it sound
There are nicotine pouches that’s not currently banned in all EU counties which is the same thing for all practical purposes. I believe France banned them in February though.
However, there’s a discussion on the effectiveness on those pouches as a means of quitting cigarettes , since the reduction in smoking by women (who traditionally don’t use snus) seems to have happened before the nicotine pouches were introduced.
This is a Snus vending machine within a Swedish grocery store, I took the picture last week. Good that they are smoke-free, but they are not at all nicotine-free
So tobacco only. I’m curious about the weed.
Illegal in Sweden and not very common, although not unheard of.
