Snus Is Replacing Smoking In Norway

Smoking has had a significant impact on the lives and health of Norway’s population. Researchers revealed in 2015 that one in five of all premature deaths before the age of 70 were caused by smoking, and in 2021, a study showed that more than 8 in 10 lung cancer cases in Norwegian women could have been avoided if those individuals had been non-smokers.

GSTHR says that with the Tobacco Act of 1975, Norway took action to reduce smoking before many other countries; it ranks in the top five in Europe for the strictness of its tobacco control measures. 

“But while smoking was already in decline in Norway, the last two decades have seen the drop accelerate significantly, coinciding with a rise in the use of the oral tobacco product snus. In comparison to smoking tobacco, snus offers a much safer way to consume nicotine,” the organisation states.

According to official statistics in 2005: 

• 25% of Norwegians aged 16 to 74 smoked daily
• Among young people aged 16 to 24, that figure was 24%
• 5% of Norwegians aged 16 to 74 used snus daily

By 2023:

• Daily smoking rates had plummeted to 7%
• Just 3% among those aged 16 to 24
• Snus use increased to 16% among those aged 16 to 74

More than twice as many people now use snus compared to cigarettes (16% vs 7%).

Snus is considered a viable option for those seeking to give up smoking, as it delivers a comparable amount of nicotine to combustible cigarettes. The latest GSTHR Briefing Paper finds that snus appears to be a widespread substitute for cigarettes in Norway. Researchers have observed that, as well as helping people who were already smoking to switch to a less harmful product, snus may also be contributing to a reduction in uptake of smoking among young adults, particularly young men.

GSTHR goes on to add that the product’s reduced risk profile in comparison to smoking is not something that has been widely communicated to the public. 

Snus is covered by a ban on tobacco advertising, and there has been no official endorsement of harm reduction by the Norwegian health authorities. 

The Norwegian Government has not officially recognised the role that snus is playing in reducing smoking, and is focused on achieving “a tobacco-free society”, with all tobacco products being treated equally, irrespective of their relative harms.

David MacKintosh, a Director of K·A·C, which runs the Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction project, said: “The profound shifts in nicotine consumption in Norway demonstrate that neighbouring Sweden’s smokefree status doesn’t have to be unique. Norway’s plummeting smoking rates are also due to widespread substitution of deadly combustible cigarettes for much safer snus. In both countries, this has occurred without official endorsement from the authorities. Consumers have embraced harm reduction on their own – and the data tells the story. Imagine what an integrated tobacco harm reduction strategy could achieve.”

References:

• How snus is replacing smoking in Norway: a revolution led by consumers and product innovation - https://gsthr.org/resources/briefing-papers/how-snus-is-replacing-smoking-in-norway-a-revolution-led-by-consumers-and-product-innovation/

Photo Credit:

• Banner image created using Grok AI

Dave Cross

Journalist at POTV

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Dave is a freelance writer; with articles on music, motorbikes, football, pop-science, vaping and tobacco harm reduction in Sounds, Melody Maker, UBG, AWoL, Bike, When Saturday Comes, Vape News Magazine, and syndicated across the Johnston Press group. He was published in an anthology of “Greatest Football Writing”, but still believes this was a mistake. Dave contributes sketches to comedy shows and used to co-host a radio sketch show. He’s worked with numerous start-ups to develop content for their websites.