the Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur region has the most smokers, according to Public Health France

A study by Public Health France takes stock of smoking in France. The results of the study should allow health authorities to adapt their cessation assistance policy.

It is in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur that there are the most smokers. In the region, around 30% of adults smoke every day. This is the observation drawn up by Public Health France, which published on Tuesday May 28 a study on daily smoking among adults in France in 2021, a study which paints a composite portrait of the smoker. It must enable the National Agency to guide prevention policies.

In Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, 29.5% of adults smoke every day. This is slightly more than in Occitanie, the second region where we find the most adult smokers (28.9%). Then come the Grand-Est, Burgundy-Franche-Comté, and Hauts-de-France, with more than a quarter of adult smokers. According to this study, it is in the Overseas Territories that the rates are the lowest. Only one in ten adults smoke in Guyana, Guadeloupe and Martinique (between 11.7% and 12.3%). In Reunion, it is almost two adults in ten (18.7%). In mainland France, it is in Ile-de-France, Pays-de-la-Loire and Center-Val de Loire that people smoke the least, with just over two adults in ten.

Public Health France also reveals that it is more men under 60 with the lowest income and education level who smoke. In France, between 20.6% and 33.2% of adult men smoke (20.6% in Centre-Val de Loire, 33.2% in Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur). Among women, the rate of smokers varies depending on the region, from 19.1% in Normandy to 26.6% in Occitanie.

If at the national level, being a man, being under 60 years old, having a level of qualification less than or equal to the baccalaureate and having a lower level of income are factors associated with smoking, on the other hand, in Normandy and the Martinique, no association between being a daily smoker and income level was highlighted by the study. In Guyana, no link is observed with age or level of education. And in Guadeloupe, the probability of smoking is lower among people with the lowest incomes.

Between 2010 and 2021, the National Agency noted that six regions of France experienced a significant drop in smoking: Burgundy-Franche-Comté, Centre-Val de Loire, Hauts-de-France, Île -de-France, Normandy and New Aquitaine. In the Overseas Territories, daily smoking decreased significantly between 2014 and 2021, in Guyana, Martinique and Reunion.

A quarter of French adults smoke daily, Public Health France recalls, a rate stable for several years, after a decline between 2016 and 2019. Across France, more than half of smokers say they want to quit. The results of the study will therefore now allow health authorities to adapt their withdrawal assistance policy.

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Methodology :

The data used mainly comes from the 2021 edition of the French Public Health Barometer, a representative survey of adults aged 18 to 75 residing in mainland France and in the overseas departments and regions.