- What a masterclass in modern spin:
1: Take a problem, in this case tobacco consumption
2: Isolate a part of it, ideally a the part that is most visible and/or easiest to go after. As others have mentioned, Sweden has a large culture of non-smoked tobacco consumption
3: Define an easily achieved win condition, brand it as complete success. In this case "smoke-free" means under 1 in 20 Swedes smoke
4: Get your buddies in the press to publish breathless articles on your 'Incredible' milestone
5 (ideally optional): If anyone ever tries to hold you accountable, double down.
- To be entirely fair, a whole country switching from smoking to safer oral nicotine is a massive health win. The bad things in cigarettes are mostly not nicotine.
- Next one! ....Norwegians and the global climate benefits of Electric cars :-))
- > If anyone ever tries to hold you accountable, double down.
Basically the entire policy of the current US administration summed up in a sentence lol
- You only think that because you don't consume news from other nations.
- > Smoke-free
> Less than 5%
Incredible milestone but when 1 in 20 is still smoking I feel like it's a bit early to call yourself smoke free.
- As a child in the 1970s I visited family there and my memory is that it seemed like every adult and older teen smoked. Often filterless. So it's quite a change in a few decades.
- I think everywhere in the west was like that in the 70s.
- I think the UK is lower than this - it's pretty unusual to see people smoking. Far less common than on the continent.
- Perhaps that's location dependent. I was just there and was taken aback by how many more people I saw smoking than where I live in the US. Still not as much as southern or eastern Europe, but more than the large US city nearest me.
- It's low indeed, but still around 10% in 2024: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthan...
- That's higher than I would've guessed! Interesting.
- Yeah... I live here, and I would definitely not call us smoke free. But it's gotten better.
- If 1 in 20 is smoke free, I’m declaring the 1 in 10 rate in the us as ALMOST smoke free.
- Correction. Only 5% admit to smoking
- Sweden is unusual in that it has a culture of using snus, a non-smoking tobacco preparation, and in fact it is unique among the EU member states in having it actually be legal (it's banned EU-wide, but Sweden got an opt-out in the accession negotiations). Neighbouring Norway also has legal snus but Norway isn't a full EU member.
This probably contributes to the low smoking rates, but it also means that Swedish politicians love acting like the tobacco industry is their best friend,[1][2] because it's in the national interest to protect this uniquely Swedish tradition or whatever. And recently, the so-called white snus (Swedicism; English name is nicotine pouches, only Sweden considers this a kind of snus) like ZYN is a way for the Swedish tobacco industry to get a new generation of young people hooked in nicotine, interestingly including ones outside Sweden.
[1] https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/regeringen-presenterade-t...
[2] https://www.svt.se/nyheter/utrikes/svenskar-i-eu-pratar-flit...
- Here's a free, fact-packed, breakdown on both smoking and "snus" in Sweden: https://www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se/the-public-health-agency...
Numbers are from 2024, but smoking was at 5.4%, and snus at 15.7%.
- > The increase [in use of snus] is particularly evident among women aged 16–29 years, where the proportion of daily snus users has risen from 3 percent in 2018 to 18 percent in 2024.
Geez that's a little alarming. Looks like that's basically all down to nicotine pouches too.
- Yes, the whole thing is remarkably awful. Disgusting too.
- We will not tolerate snus slander here! long live swedish match
- As I Swede snus can suck it.
- I will openly hate on Swedish snusers until they stop littering their pouches and cakes every-damn-where. Some of those guys even throw it onto indoor ceilings. It’s disgusting.
- In korea people will chug through americanos like its water and dump the cups on the streets because there are no trash cans. If they had nic pouches there there is a good chance theyd clog the sewer system.
Id still take nic pouches and plastic cups over cig smoking losers anyday of the week
- Do Netherlands next
- I wonder what their next moral/health/social/environmental crusade will be. Governments have made vast sums out of tobacco duty, so what do they need to make up for that?
- I hope they go after surplus soviet grenades next.
- [dead]
