It’s a substantial budget. According to a study by the Alliance Against Tobacco (ACT) published on Monday and relayed by France Blue, a smoker spends an average of 207 euros per month. In total, smokers therefore offload 2,484 euros on average each year. According to the ACT, “the tobacco industry does not only ruin health”. The anti-tobacco association believes that in addition to the effects on health, it also aggravates social inequalities.
“One in five French people admits having given up certain purchases or certain activities to support their tobacco consumption”, denounces the ACT in its study, stressing that the sacrifices vary from one category of the population to another. They rise to 42% among young people under 35 and 29% among parents. If the ACT insists on social inequalities, it is because tobacco use increases as income decreases.
A quarter of French people smoke daily
Thus, we observe “twice as many daily smokers” among the French with the lowest incomes. “32% of people with no diploma or a diploma below the baccalaureate [fument] against 17.1% of holders of a diploma higher than the baccalaureate”, adds the association. The Minister of Health, François Braun, declared in December: “it is the most modest, those who are the furthest from care who smoke the most”. France still has a large number of smokers.
In 2021, in metropolitan France, more than three out of 10 adults aged 18-75 said they smoked (31.9%), a quarter of them daily (25.3%). Tobacco remains the leading cause of preventable death in France, with some 75,000 deaths each year. The objective set by the authorities is to achieve a tobacco-free generation by 2032. To achieve this result, the Alliance Against Tobacco calls for free nicotine substitutes. “If prescribed substitutes were 100% reimbursed, more than three-quarters of smokers believe they would be more motivated to quit,” reports the ACT.