Key Points

The prevalence of daily smoking in Normandy is comparable to that of other regions: in 2017, the Normandy region had approximately 600,000 daily smokers aged 18 to 75. With an identical age structure, the Normandy region was in line with the average, with 25.2% of daily smokers.

The prevalence of daily smoking in Normandy is declining (2016: 32.7% vs. 2017: 25.2%). The proportion of former smokers in the Normandy region was significantly higher in 2017 than in the rest of metropolitan France, with 34.9% of former smokers compared to 31.1%.

Higher tobacco use among pregnant women: in 2016, in the Normandy region, the prevalence of tobacco use during the third trimester of pregnancy was 28.1%, 20 percentage points higher than the national average (16.2%).

Higher prevalence of daily smoking among 17-year-olds associated with heavier consumption: in 2017, the prevalence of daily smoking among 17-year-olds was significantly higher in Normandy than in other regions, with 30.0% of daily smokers. Furthermore, the prevalence of heavy tobacco use (at least 10 cigarettes per day over the past 30 days) was 7.5%, a figure significantly higher than in other regions.

In 2017, nearly one in two daily smokers (47.7%) wanted to quit smoking, and one in four (25.8%) had made an attempt to quit for at least one week during the past year.

The overall health impact of tobacco use is higher among men in the region, particularly in the Eure and Seine-Maritime departments: between 2013 and 2015, among men, the mortality rate from lung cancer, ischemic heart disease, and COPD in the Normandy region stood at 223.1 per 100,000 inhabitants, a rate more than 10% higher than the national average (200.5 per 100,000 inhabitants).