Eurostat data on the prevalence of smoking in the European Union illustrates that several of Latvia’s serious health problems are likely linked to the fact that its men continue to puff their way through lots of cigarettes, despite the well-documented health risks of doing so.

Eurostat indicators for 2023 published on August 6th show that in the population aged 15 years and older, 24% of the EU population smoked, indicating a 2 percentage points decrease compared with 2017 (26%). Among men, the share was 28%, while 21% of women smoked.

Sweden reported the lowest share of smokers (8%) among the population aged 15 and older, followed by the Netherlands (11%) and Denmark (14%). These 3 countries also recorded the lowest smoking rates for both men and women: Sweden (9% of men and 8% of women), the Netherlands (13% and 10%) and Denmark (16% and 12%).

Smoking prevalance, 2023

Smoking prevalance, 2023

Photo: Eurostat

Bulgaria had the highest overall share of smokers (37%), followed by Greece (36%), Croatia (35%), Romania (34%) and then Latvia (33%). Concerningly, Latvia’s figure actually rose compared to 2020, when it was 32%.  

However, it is clear that women in Latvia are much more willing to abstain from tobacco than men. While 20% of women are smokers, that rate more than doubles among men to 48%, second only to Bulgarian males.   

In 2020, Latvia had a split between the sexes of 22% female smokers and 43% male smokers – so while the rate among women has fallen by 2%, the rate among men has risen by 5%.

In the data set before that from 2017, the overall rate was also 32% (21% among women, 47% among men), again suggesting Latvia is bucking the European trend towards less cigarette smoking.  

Latvia is also the heaviest-smoking of the Baltic states. In Lithuania 29% of the population are smokers (17% women, 43% men) and in Estonia only 25% are smokers (18% women, 33% men).

 

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