Snus and cigarettes equally popular

Published:

The share of the Norwegian population smoking daily is the same as for those using snus daily. Users of snus are predominantly male, while the gender disparity is less pronounced for smokers.

Written by: Joachim Wettergreen

In 2018, 12 per cent of the population aged 16-74 were daily smokers, while 12 per cent used snus daily according to the statistics on tobacco, alcohol and other drugs. In other words, there is a similar share of daily smokers and daily users of snus in the Norwegian population.

Figure 1 outlines the decline of daily smokers and the increase in the daily use of snus over the last decade. The share of users for both tobacco products also seems to have stabilised somewhat in the last few years.

Figure 1. Share of the population aged 16-74 who use snus and cigarettes daily, by tobacco product and year. Per cent

2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
Daily smokers 21 19 17 16 15 13 13 12 11 12
Daily users of snus 6 7 8 9 9 9 10 10 12 12

Young men are heavy users of snus

Men use snus the most, and particularly in the young age-groups. The prevalence of snus is especially high among men aged 25-34, with nearly 30 per cent. Twenty-two per cent of men aged 16-24 do the same.

Women use snus less in comparison, and the trends are the same, with younger women in the population using snus more than the older groups. Sixteen per cent of women aged 16-24 use snus daily, while only 6 per cent of women aged 35-44 do the same. Use of snus declines with the age of the population.

Contact