Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 22 March 2022
811. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Health the average number of tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes smoked per day by Irish smokers in each of the years 2015 to 2021; the extent to which Irish rates differ compared to other European Union member states in the same time period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13870/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraA survey commissioned by the European Commission titled 'Attitudes of Europeans towards tobacco and electronic cigarettes' provides EU-wide figures for the requested time period on cigarette smoking. Year-by-year data is not available and the data is instead given in ranges.
In the period from 2017 - 2020 Irish people smoked 13.3 cigarettes per day.
From 2014 - 2020 the figure was 16.1 per day
From 2012 - 2020 it was 16.4 per day.
The number of cigarettes smoked per day in Ireland was lower than in the EU and UK for the 2017-2020 time period.
In the period 2017 - 2020 smokers in the EU and UK smoked 14.7 cigarettes per day.
In the period 2014 - 2020 the figure was 13.5 per day
In the period 2012 - 2020 it was 13.7 per day.
A similar Europe-wide country-by-country comparison for e-cigarette use is not possible as the information is not available due to low sample sizes. As e-cigarettes are not consumed in the same manner as cigarettes, e-cigarette prevalence of use rather than amount used per day may be a better measure.
With regard to Ireland's e-cigarette prevalence, Healthy Ireland survey data for the years requested shows that in Ireland in 2015, 6% of former smokers and 0.1% of people who never smoked used e-cigarettes.
From 2016 onwards Healthy Ireland changed how this was measured, giving a figure for the total population, rather than for former smokers and non-smokers.
In 2016 Healthy Ireland found that 3% of the total population used e-cigarettes.
In 2017 this figure was 4%
In 2018 this figure was 4%.
In 2019 this figure was 5%.
According to the most recent Healthy Ireland Report conducted in 2021 4% of the Irish population use e-cigarettes . No report was carried out in 2020 due to Covid-19.
Tobacco use continues to be the leading cause of preventable death in Ireland, with approximately 6,000 people per year dying due to tobacco-related diseases. 1 in 2 smokers will die from a tobacco related disease.
