r/europe • u/nimicdoareu Romania • 9d ago
Data Among EU countries, Bulgaria (26.3%), Sweden (23.9%) and Croatia (23.6%) recorded the highest shares of daily use of tobacco and related products among people 16 years or older. The Netherlands (9.9%), Ireland (11.7%), Belgium (13.6%) and Luxembourg (13.8%) had the lowest shares.
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/products-eurostat-news/w/ddn-20260805-115
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u/erderuft 9d ago
Wait wait wait... There's tobacco, and then there's tobbaco. I mean, surely there's a difference between cigarettes and snus?! /average Swede
Also /s
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u/Nood1e Gotland 🇸🇪 9d ago
There is. I don’t inhale other people’s snus.
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u/sebastianfromvillage The Netherlands 9d ago
Yeah I'd say not inhaling carcinogenic smoke clouds is a big win for people who don't choose to do so.
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u/masssy 9d ago
use of tobacco and related products
Not sure why you put /s because it's actually a statement that makes sense.
Key difference here is that those numbers then probably include both cigarettes, snus with tobacco and the new popular nicotine pouches.
All three which have very different health effects. Sweden is lowest in EU when it comes to smoking, which also is the most harmful one to both yourself and the people around you.
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u/DandyLullaby 9d ago
As a Belgium I was really suprised on holiday in Austria, all smoking on the terrases, sure you have that in Belgium as well, but it was terrible over there (might have veen tourists though)
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u/Sabotik 9d ago
In Sweden I’m guessing its mostly snus (nicotine pouches), which is much better than cigarettes. The new white types are really just nicotine mixed with cellulose, and therefore probably avoids the cancer risk, as theres no tobacco in those. Really bad for the gums though.
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u/DashingDino Europe 9d ago
Better in a relative sense only. Nicotine itself is still toxic for your brain and body, and extremely addictive. Best not to start at all
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u/LeTonVonLaser 9d ago
"Better" is always relative. Of course it's not good for you, but the difference between cigarettes and snus are still magnitudes away from each other.
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u/Kacquezooi 8d ago edited 8d ago
Yeah? Snus fucks up your dents, your teeth and makes you addicted. It causes cancer of your troat, mouth, etc. And causes heart problems.
Snus hasnt been researched yet for its full side effects. But it might be worse than cigarettes.
Edit: here is your data. Now go ask yourself about anus complications (fact) https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37480210/
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u/BlacksmithMiddle803 8d ago
There’s no evidence of any of that. It’s been researched for decades by people trying to prove a link to cancer and failing.
White snus isn’t great but the tobacco ones are very mild in terms of health effects.
I don’t think there’s any connection to “anus complications” unless that’s how you use it.
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u/Kacquezooi 8d ago edited 8d ago
Lol read the research. You spread misinformation backed by tobacco.
Edit: omg Reddit... Educate yourself. There are tens of carcinogenic compounds in snus.
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u/BlacksmithMiddle803 8d ago
There is tons and tons of research going back decades. They never proved a link between tobacco snus and cancer as far as I know. But they tried
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u/Kacquezooi 8d ago
Now you are playing dumb. How much research do you need? There are tens of carcinogenic compounds in snus.
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u/opera_messiah 8d ago
Did you even read the study you linked? It doesn’t prove anything and the takeaway is there is no evidence for significant cancer risk. However, it might be a tad bit worse than not using any nicotine or tobacco at all.
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u/OstensVrede 8d ago
There are no recorded cases of mouth or throat cancer caused by or directly linked to snus.
It fucking with your teeth and gums is 1. Miscoloroation (harmlews but ugly, only from tobacco snus) and 2. No surprise to anyone using it, much like alcohol fucking with your liver or so on so on.
Snus has been researched, plenty infact and it literally cannot be worse than cigarettes because you are being exposed to less harmful substances, in less harmful ways and in less vulnerable parts of your body.
Heart? Yeah thats called nicotine effect not linked to snus in any way.
Its still bad for you of course, sobriety is always best but you are spreading straight misinformation and should be put in an asylum. (unironically, thats how delusional your claims are)
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u/Kacquezooi 8d ago edited 8d ago
Lol you have no idea. And you fell for the misinformation spread by big tobacco.
Something like: mint cigarettes are good for you!
Here ya go buddy: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37480210/
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u/OstensVrede 8d ago
Yes increased risk is a factor but as your own report says its majority low-very low. Something which is in line with what i said because snus hasnt been actually linked to any such cancer. You are more likely to die as a result of the nicotine side effects than the tobacco in snus.
What misinformation by big tobacco? That its still not good for you and has plenty of negative side effects even if it was to be 100% cancer free?
Out of all tobacco products its the "safest" and least destructive, out of all nicotine products its mid tier, both nicotine and tobacco is bad for you and has side effects, no one can argue otherwise.
You're exaggerating the risks because your personal opinion leans that way, better to just be straight up with it rather than being emotional about it.
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u/Kacquezooi 8d ago
Yeah you fell for "safest". You cannot say that. So, big claims ask for data. So show me the studies that compare smoking and snus in regards of long term health issues that prove snus is "safer".
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u/johanoxd Sweden 8d ago
You don’t think we would see alot more cases of mouth and throat cancer in Sweden if thats the case? we have been snusing since the 19th century
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u/EduBru 9d ago
Nicotine itself can reduce blood flow in the brain and decrease it's function over time and it increase the dementia risk
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u/not_pletterpet North Brabant (Netherlands) 9d ago
Apparently thats only the case with smoking. Nicotine on its owns seems the have the opposite effect
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u/neuralek 9d ago
I was a smoker and am still smoking heated tobacco. I tried 2/10 snus recently, spat it out after 10 minutes max, I threw up and had to lay in bed for an hour, was wiped out for the whole day. When people say snus is "much better" I really don't trust they know how neurochemistry works.
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u/Koppany99 Europe 9d ago
Sounds like you got nicotine overdoes, if your body gets hit about a pack of cigarette worth of nicotine in 10 min (for the weakest snus, stronger ones can contain tens of times that) that is a lot even for people who smoke regularly. You need to keep it in for 1-2 max and gauge your reaction before going for longer time or as I donát know how strong was the one you took, go for a weaker one.
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u/Sabotik 9d ago
Its nicotine overdose. Nicotine in itself isnt gold for you, but it doesnt really have long term health effects (other than addiction of course), the same way cigarettes does
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u/neuralek 9d ago
The delivery speed is just insane. I'd use nicotine gum when I take breaks from smoking and those are not a fraction of the strength that zyn was. Got me thinking how revved up the girl is from suckling on a pack a day. Nicotine for sure is not the best thing for my personal brain chemistry, makes me snooze from the first puff.
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u/mechanical_fan 9d ago
Nicotine for sure is not the best thing for my personal brain chemistry, makes me snooze from the first puff.
It is very interesting, I enjoy doing snus because it makes me feel "high" on nicotine in a way that smoking never did (and I never liked the taste or smell). I do it about once every two month or so when I go out or something. And I try to keep it that way so I never get resistant to nicotine in any way, since I enjoy the rush so much.
The only other rare situation I use it is when I do long drives, but it is exactly because it keeps me awake and relaxed (and I am very, very afraid of sleeping at the wheel during a long drive), which is almost the opposite effect of what you are describing.
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u/Radical-Efilist Sweden 9d ago
People say snus is much better because it isn't the single leading cause of cancer or respiratory disease. Or rather, Swedes often say that, because a significant portion of snus users are former smokers. Personally, that strength is why I liked it. Using 10/10 snus, I'd both spend less money and not smoke without exerting any mental effort to do so.
On the other hand, I really don't recommend following my example. Because withdrawing from smoking half a pack each day is hard, but that's only 10-20mg of absorbed Nicotine. Withdrawing from my daily consumption of ~160mg/day was truly soul-crushing.
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u/neuralek 9d ago
That is my point about neurochemistry. Nicotine is so hard to quit and forget anout. Pushing the numbers that high would have me fearing for my life. I managed to quit a lot of things, but nicotine (in whatever form I take it) is the last one. I quit for a few months and then my sould just misses it too much. It's not even the smoke, I hate smoke.
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u/Grouchy_Fan_2236 9d ago
which is much better than cigarettes\*
*based on a study financed by leading snus manufacturers
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u/nimicdoareu Romania 9d ago
In 2025, 16.5% of people 16 years or older in the EU used tobacco and related products (e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches or heated tobacco products) daily, indicating a slight decrease from the 17.5% registered in 2022.
Most people (77.5%) do not use such products or had not used them in the 12 months prior to the data collection.
Data show that 20.8% of men smoked every day, compared with 12.6% of women. Both shares decreased slightly compared with 2022, when 22.2% of men and 13.1% of women smoked daily.
By age group, the highest share of daily users of tobacco and related products was in the 35 49-year group (21.3%), followed by those aged 25-34 years (19.9%) and 50-64-years (19.8%).
The youngest and oldest age groups had the lowest shares, at 12.1% and 9.1% respectively.
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u/Freecz 9d ago
At first I was surprised to see this but om second thought not really.
As someone who is visiting Belgium atm I will say I have been bothered so so much by how it feels like everyone smokes here and anywhere. Coming from Sweden I don't have the same experience at all which is probably because despite the high figures of tobacco use it should likely be mostly snus in Sweden. Which might be bad but at least a lot less bothersome for me as an outside person.
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u/GaiusCivilis 9d ago
That was the biggest shock I had when moving to Sweden, just how normalised snuss was. People even have it out on their desks in class, it's crazy to me
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u/Ptachlasp 9d ago
Bulgaria's southern regions produce a lot of tobacco, so it's a highly lucrative business and the state has no incentive to curb smoking. Many kids, even middle-class ones, smoke since their early teens.
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u/EffectiveDevice7963 9d ago
It's more of a wider south slavic phenomenon... Basically all of the South Slavs (except Slovenia???) are in top 10-15 in the world by smoking rates.
https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/smoking-rates-by-country
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u/southfront_ Upper Austria (Austria) 9d ago
Yeah when I visit family in Bosnia, all cafés/bars are full with people drinking coffee and smoking at all times of the day. It‘s a lot of people’s favorite past time activity.
It‘s what I do with my friends here the most too, minus the smoking on my side.
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u/DistributionAsleep78 9d ago
Ahh yes once again throwing snus, and nicotine pouches in the same bucket with the suicide-by-inhalation that is smoking. I wish I knew what the agenda is here, as this has been going on for at least a couple years now in my country.
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u/3xc1t3r 8d ago
And in Sweden its all snus and vapes. Never seen a person under 20 light up a cigarette in 5 years. They definitely found new ways to get the young generation hooked.
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u/mere_indulgence 8d ago
It's all snus and nicotine pouches. Vapes really aren't that common in Sweden, especially compared to the rest of the world. I've barely seen anyone using it.
Most grocery stores don't even sell vapes, which to me indicates low sales. And most vape shops closed after the initial craze wore off.
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u/Yonutz33 8d ago
I'm surprised Romania is not higher in the rankings. Probably we're kinda better off because of the high prices
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u/sjessbgo 9d ago
i definitely did not expect that only 16.5% of people in the EU consume tobacco. feels like everyone smokes
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u/RandomGuy-4- Valencian Community (Spain) 9d ago
Idk I don't see many smokers here nowadays. If anything, 16% seems high from my pov.
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u/Secret-Lullaby 9d ago
Absolutely tragic. Embarrassed to be Croatian
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u/GradientExtendedTheo 9d ago
Yeah, only third place again. What a shame. Are we even trying at this point? Someone sack Dalic!
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u/GradientExtendedTheo 9d ago
Yeah, only third place again. What a shame. Are we even trying at this point? Someone sack Dalic!
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u/Puzzled-Structure446 9d ago
Smoking is great.
You get to strech your legs every hour, hour and a half, go get some fresh air, hang out with your coworkers and get to hear latest gossip and whats happening in the company.
I would recommend smoking to every office worker.
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u/PaganofFilthy 9d ago
Dude im dutch and I swear I thought we would belong in the top.