CAN conducts regular surveys in schools and among adults. The data is based on self-reporting. In this way, CAN can see trends, but these are based on self-reporting and do not provide as clear figures as when you see what has actually been sold. CAN therefore also produces reports based on sales figures. One such report has now been presented based on statistics from 2003 to 2023.
Here you can clearly see a decrease for traditional cigarettes. Cigarette consumption has decreased by 58 percent since 2003. The decline affects both registered and unregistered cigarettes, i.e. cigarettes that have been purchased abroad or smuggled in, for example. Since 2021, cigarette consumption has decreased by 22 percent. Total cigarette consumption in 2023 was estimated to correspond to 451 cigarettes per inhabitant.
While the use of traditional cigarettes is decreasing, the use of e-cigarettes is increasing. Sales of e-liquids (liquids for electronic cigarettes) increased from 14,000 liters in 2022 to 26,000 liters in 2023, an increase of 85 percent. The total consumption of e-liquid in 2023 corresponds to approximately 3 milliliters per inhabitant.
Is there then any connection between reduced smoking and increased vaping? CAN writes in its final discussion section of the report that one should be cautious in drawing conclusions. The reduction in smoking occurred before the increase in vaping:
Since the use of e-cigarettes can be an aid to quitting smoking (Lindson et al., 2024), it is tempting to link the current decline in smoking with the current rise in e-cigarettes. It should be noted that the large decline in smoking occurred long before e-cigarettes became popular and that there was no decline in smoking in connection with the increase in e-cigarette use in 2022. For 2023, the increase in e-cigarettes does indeed co-vary with a decline in smoking, but it is far too early to draw conclusions based on data from 1 year. The available scientific evidence has also been judged to be too insufficient to be able to determine whether e-cigarettes lead to changed smoking habits (SBU, 2020)
Brown snuff
As for brown snus, there has also been a decrease, just like for cigarettes, but there have been much more fluctuations. In 2003, the consumption of brown snus corresponded to 0,92 kilograms per inhabitant. By 2023, consumption had decreased to 0,78 kilograms. But over the years, it has gone back and forth a bit. Consumption was at its lowest in 2008, 0,72 kilograms per inhabitant. In recent years, however, it has been steadily decreasing. This has coincided with an increase in the use of white snus.
– From 2021, the number of snus cans consumed increased by 15 percent if we count both brown and white snus. But brown snus decreased by 8 percent while white more than doubled, says Mats Ramstedt, head of research at CAN in a press release.
White snus has only been included in the statistics since 2021. During this short time, its use has increased greatly. In 2021, the use of white snus corresponded to 0,11 kilograms per inhabitant. By 2023, it had more than doubled: 0,25 kilograms per inhabitant. White snus constitutes an increasingly large part of the total snus consumption in Sweden.
– In 2021, we estimated that 16 percent of all snus cans were white snus and today it is every third snus can, says Mats Ramstedt.
Is there any connection between the decline in smoking and the sharp increase in white snus? Just as with e-cigarettes, one should be careful in drawing conclusions. Smoking began to decline long before white snus became popular, writes CAN:
Like e-cigarettes, snus is also used as an aid to quit smoking tobacco cigarettes (Lund & Lund, 2023) and a question to ask here is therefore whether there is a connection between snus consumption and the decrease in smoking. Here too, it can be stated that smoking began to decrease long before white snus became popular, but also that the consumption of tobacco snus in kilograms has remained relatively stable over the past 20 years when smoking has decreased significantly. If snus is measured in number of cans, however, it can be seen that consumption has increased over the past 20 years but that it was at a largely unchanged level in 2003–2013 – a period when smoking decreased by 33 percent. This does not mean that there are smokers who quit with the help of snus, but rather that it is far from certain that increased snus consumption will reduce smoking at the population level. Here too, the research evidence is currently insufficient (SBU, 2020).
Footnote: The population average is calculated based on the population 15 years of age and older.
Source: https://www.can.se/publikationer/den-totala-konsumtionen-av-cigaretter-och-snus-i-sverige-2003-2023/
