The statistic ‘Tobacco, alcohol and other drugs’ shows that 15 percent of the population aged 16 to 74 years used snus daily in 2021. This is a small increase by 2 percentage points since 2020. The share of daily users of snus is highest among the youngest age groups. Furthermore, more than twice as many men (21 percent) than women (8 percent) use snus daily. One out of three men aged 25 to 34 years use snus daily compared to one out of six women in the same age group. The youngest men (aged 16 to 24 years) have had the largest increase in daily use of snus in the past year, from 22 to 29 percent.
The share of people that used snus occasionally in 2021 was about 4 percent, which is roughly the same as it has been for the past ten years. There has been a small decrease in use in all age groups, and the trend has been relatively equal for men and women. The reason for the decrease might be that people that previously used snus occasionally have progressed to using it daily.
More women than men smoke daily
8 percent of the population aged 16 to 74 years reported that they smoked daily in 2021. This is a small decrease since 2020, when the share of daily smokers was 9 percent. People aged 55 to 64 years smoke the most, even though the share of daily smokers in this age group also has decreased since 2020, from 17 to 14 percent. Among the youngest age group (16 to 24 years) the share of daily smokers seems to have stabilized around 1 percent in the past two years.
The smoking pattern among men and women has roughly followed the same trajectory for the past ten years. Meanwhile, 2021 is the first year when there are more women (9 percent) than men (6 percent) that report to be smoking daily. The share of daily smokers among men has decreased in almost every age group, while the decrease among women has been less significant. However, in the youngest age group (16 to 24 years) the share of daily smokers is higher among men than women.
The share of the population that smokes cigarettes occasionally has stabilized around 8 percent. There are more men (9 percent) than women (7 percent) that report that they smoke occasionally. People in the age group 16 to 24 years tend to smoke occasionally more often, and this may be related to social smoking. In this age group 19 percent of the men smoke occasionally, compared to 9 percent of the women.
Clear social differences in the use of tobacco
In addition to differences in tobacco consumption habits that can be related to age and sex, there is also a clear A social gradient is a term used to describe the phenomenon whereby people who are less advantaged in terms of socioeconomic position have worse health (and higher risk related to health habits, e.g. smoking) than those who are more advantaged (Marmot, 2005). when in it comes to smoking cigarettes and/or using snus in the population.
Among those with educational attainment on a basic school level, 16 percent smoke cigarettes daily, compared to only 3 percent of those with educational attainment on a higher level. Consequently, there are more than five times as many daily smokers among people with the lowest education level compared to those with the highest. The social gradient is more pronounced among women than men. Similar social differences are also visible when it comes to the use of snus; there is a clear tendency that people with lower educational attainment uses snus more often.
