The French smoke less on a daily basis, but tobacco remains a marker of social inequality.
By The New Obs with AFP
Published on
A person smoking, December 27, 2021. FRANCOIS GREUEZ/SIPA
Daily smoking is declining in mainland France , with 23.1% of smokers in 2023, but social inequalities remain "very marked" , with people reporting modest incomes, unemployment or even less qualified smoking more, according to a study released on Tuesday, May 20.
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"In 2023, more than three out of ten people aged 18-75 will report smoking tobacco (31.1%) and 23.1% will smoke daily," note the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Trends (OFDT) and Public Health France, in a study already released in November and supplemented to include socio-economic factors linked to smoking. "This is the lowest proportion of daily smokers since the end of the 1990s" and the creation of this indicator, they write in a press release.
On the other hand, smoking is not immune to social inequalities . "People without a diploma or with a diploma below the baccalaureate have a significantly higher level of daily tobacco use (28.9%) than those reporting a diploma above the baccalaureate (16.6%)," this study highlights, based on a survey carried out among some 15,000 people.
Men still smoke more than womenThe dynamic is similar for monthly income: three in ten people (30.3%) earning less than 1,160 euros smoke every day , almost twice as many as those earning more than 2,510 euros (17%). While the proportion of unemployed people reporting that they smoke daily is high (35.7%), it has fallen by ten points compared to 2021 (45.8%). "Men remain more often daily smokers than women (25.4% vs. 20.9%)," continue the OFDT and Santé Publique France.
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