Read Time:58 Second

STOCKHOLM — Sweden met its target of becoming smoke-free in 2025 with less than five percent of the population smoking cigarettes daily, though a quarter of the population still used nicotine daily in some form, such as vapes and snus, a report showed Monday. The number of daily smokers fell from 16 to 4.8 percent between 2003 and 2025, according to the report published by the Swedish Council for Information on Alcohol and Other Drugs (CAN). A country is considered smoke-free when less than five percent of its population are daily smokers. A report by Sweden’s Public Health Agency in 2024 put the number at 5.4 percent. Its next survey was to be conducted sometime in 2026. According to the CAN report, women aged 50-84 were the largest group of daily cigarette smokers, at six percent. Sweden’s success in reducing cigarette smoking has largely been attributed to the widespread use of snus, or moist snuff, which is placed under the upper lip either in pouches or loose. It can be made with tobacco or without, with the latter known as white snus which is often made with sweet flavourings that