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| The sharp drop in state tobacco tax income indicates a reduction in the popularity of smoking. In Finland 22 per cent of men of working age and 16 per cent of women smoke daily. |
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Up to 60 per cent of Finns who smoke say they would like to quit smoking. Moreover, about 40 per cent of those who smoke daily have made one serious attempt to quit smoking within the past year, says the director of the National Institute for Health and Welfare Pekka Puska.
Puska believes that the recent reduction in smoking is due primarily to a broad change in attitude. According to Puska smoking has slowly but steadily become less common throughout the past decade.
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Tobacco law aims at absence of smoking
– The purpose of Finnish tobacco law is to limit the health problems caused by tobacco by reducing the popularity of smoking.
– Tobacco law has been amended many times during its existence. In 1995 the minimum smoking age was raised to 18 years and smoking in workplaces was forbidden. In the year 2006 smoking in restaurants was significantly limited.
– Smoking is not permitted in any public spaces, public transportation or public events.
– For the most part in outdoor areas meant for people of less than 18 years of age, such as the yards of kindergartens and schools, smoking is not permitted.
– Advertising of cigarettes and tobacco products is not permitted.
Source: National Institute for Health
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The adulation of smoking has reduced drastically and especially among the highly educated smoking is rare. According to Statistics Finland 20 per cent of Finns smoked daily during the past year. “Smoking rate in Finland is among the lowest in Europe,” Puska assesses.
The drop in state tobacco tax income tells of a reduction in the popularity of smoking: income from tobacco tax fell by a fifth last year. Tobacco tax income dropped even though the taxation of cigarettes was notably tightened from the beginning of the year.
“In the long run the state’s tax income will fall for sure. The drop has been spurred also by the fact that smoking indoors, such as in restaurants and workplaces, has been made more and more difficult,” Puska ponders.
The rises in taxation may however have led people to purchase cheaper tobacco products, indicating that smoking may not necessarily have become less common in proportion to the fall in tax income. “We haven’t noticed a significant drop in volumes. The inexpensive market segment is constantly expanding which probably explains most of the change,” says the director of societal relations and communications of British American Tobacco Finland Lauri Mäkinen.
JAAKKO TAKKINEN – HT
STT
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