Spain is the ninth country in the EU with the highest rate of smokers, according to the latest figures published by the European statistical office (Eurostat).
Ahead of Spain are Bulgaria, Greece, Latvia, Germany, Croatia, Cyprus, Slovakia and Austria in the ranking of countries with the most smokers.
Image source: Eurostat.
According to Eurostat, in 2019 - the last year for which there are comparable figures for the whole of Europe - 19.7% of Spaniards over 15 years of age reported that they were daily cigarette smokers.
In fact, 14.8% of the Spanish population consumed fewer than 20 cigarettes per day, while 4.9% consumed 20 or more cigarettes on a daily basis.
In Spain, as in most EU countries except Sweden and Denmark, the proportion of smokers is higher among men than among women. 23.2% of Spanish men smoke daily, compared to 16.4% of Spanish women, according to Eurostat data.
18.4% of EU population
Across the EU, 18.4% of the EU population aged 15 years and over were daily cigarette smokers in 2019. 12.6% of the population smoked fewer than 20 cigarettes a day, while 5.9 % consumed 20 or more cigarettes per day.
The countries with the largest shares of daily cigarette smokers were Bulgaria (28.7%), Greece (23.6%), Latvia (22.1%), Germany (21.9%) and Croatia (21.8%).
In contrast, the countries with the smallest shares of daily smokers were Sweden (6.4%), Finland (9.9%), Luxembourg (10.5%), Portugal (11.5%) and Denmark (11.7%).
The proportion of smokers who consumed 20 cigarettes or more per day ranged between 1.0% in Sweden and 12.9% in Bulgaria. At the same time, the share of smokers who consumed fewer than 20 cigarettes varied between 5.3% in Sweden and 15.8% in Bulgaria.
Differences by gender
In 2019, there were more smokers among the male population than the female population in the EU: 22.3% of European men aged 15 years old and over were daily cigarette smokers, compared with 14.8% of women.
In all EU Member States, the proportion of daily cigarette smokers was higher among men than among women, apart from in Sweden and Denmark.
In Sweden, the share of men who smoked daily was 0.9 percentage points less than the share of daily female smokers, while in Denmark the proportion of male smokers who smoked daily was 0.1 percentage points less than the share of daily female smokers.
