But Turkish Cypriots the highest proportion
Greek and Greek Cypriot smokers are the heaviest smokers in Europe but the highest proportion of smokers are found in northern Cyprus, according to Eurobarometer results published on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day today (May 31).
According to the results, Greek smokers consume the most cigarettes per day, smoking an average 23.2 cigarettes per day, while Greek Cypriots come second, smoking an average 21.3 per day.
This compares with an EU25 average of 16.9 and a Turkish Cypriot average of 18.8 per day.
As a proportion of the total population, northern Cpyrus comes top, with 44% of the population smoking packet cigarettes, followed by Greece at 40%. In Turkey 37% of adults smoke, while in Cyprus (government-controlled areas), it is 28%, close to the EU25 average of 27%.
More than half of Greek Cypriots have never smoked
For the EU as a whole, the proportion of people saying they have never smoked has risen from 42% to 47% since 2002. Perhaps surprisingly, that proportion is higher, at 56%, in the government-controlled areas of Cyprus (with no comparable data for 2002). In northern Cyprus, the proportion is 48%.
In the EU, the proportion of people who have given up smoking has risen from 19% to 22%. Only 12% of people in ROC-controlled Cyprus have smoked and then given up, compared with 8% in northern Cyprus.
The Eurobarometer found that in the EU as a whole, women and young people smoke the least. The drop in smoking is most marked among these groups too, although there are considerable variations among Member States.
Some 75% of people are aware that tobacco smoke can be dangerous for non-smokers.
Young people are the most bothered by smoke, owing to its unpleasant aspects, such as smell.
In the EU 56% of people are in “totally in favour” of a smoking ban in restaurants. The proportion is much higher in Cyprus (but maybe because the weather gives smokers the choice of sitting outside): at 69% in the south and 72% in the north.
The proportions supporting a ban in bars and pubs, offices and indoor public spaces are also higher in both sides of Cyprus than the EU average.
Support for smoking restrictions is highest in the smoke-free Member States, suggesting that approval for smoke-free policies tends to increase following their implementation.
“Tobacco – deadly in any disguise”
“Tobacco – deadly in any form or disguise” is the motto of World No Tobacco Day (WNTD) 2006.
The aim of this year’s campaign is to show how deadly tobacco is in all its manifestations. Cigarettes, cigars, snuff, ‘light’, low-tar etc, all carry a lethal risk. On the occasion of WNTD, the Commission is supporting a number of wide-ranging actions.
Member States, the EU anti-tobacco HELP campaign and HELP partners across the EU are coming together simultaneously to open 25 HELP advice tents in every Member State today.
All 25 HELP tents will be active, offering carbon monoxide (CO) lung tests, providing advice and distributing information. The European ‘HELP – For a life without tobacco’ campaign, launched by European Commissioner Markos Kyprianou on March 1, 2005, targets young people and aims to prevent non-smokers from taking up the habit, and to help smokers quit. This European campaign covers a period of four years.
Consultation on smoke-free environments
The Commission intends to put forward in late-2006 a “Green Paper” on smoke free environments, with a view to the impact on human health of passive smoking. The consultation will aim to establish the best way forward in tackling environmental tobacco smoke and will address the scope of smoke-free environments as well as different policy options.
Fiona Mullen
