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Sweden could become the first country to go smoke-free, with a smoking rate below 5%.

The Swedish Public Health Agency reported that only 5.6 percent of Swedish adults smoked in 2022, down from 49 percent of men in 1960. The report, “Smoke-free Does Less Harm,” attributes this achievement to Sweden’s openness to alternative nicotine products, and details the significant health benefits of the switch.

Although nearly a quarter of Swedish adults still use nicotine daily, in line with the European average, Sweden has much lower tobacco-related mortality rates (44% lower), cancer incidence rates (41% lower) and cancer mortality rates (38% lower) than the rest of the EU.

The aim of the Smoke-Free Sweden campaign is to encourage other countries to follow Sweden’s example and reduce the harm caused by tobacco. The campaign’s report calls on the World Health Organization (WHO) and the global public health community to recognize that it is combustible products, not nicotine itself, that cause harm to smokers.

The report attributed the low incidence of smoking-related diseases to Swedes’ preference for alternatives to smokeless tobacco products such as snuff, oral smoke, heated tobacco products and e-cigarettes.

“While nicotine is addictive, it does not cause the serious illnesses associated with smoking,” Fagerstrom said. “Our findings support a shift in focus from smoking cessation to providing less harmful alternatives for those who are unable to quit completely.”

There are 52 per cent fewer smoking deaths among Swedish men than in Poland and 57 per cent fewer than in Romania. In terms of male lung cancer, the number of male lung cancer deaths in Sweden is significantly lower than in France, Germany, Italy and Poland.

While smoking is associated with higher rates of death and disease, smokeless alternatives, such as snuff and snuff, do not carry similar health risks, the report said.