‘Lower income smokers can’t just quit’

One in five adults smokes

The most recent figures from the Trimbos Institute (2021) show that one in five Dutch people aged 18 and older smoked in 2021. That is 20.6 percent of the adult population. There has been a significant decrease in recent years, as in 2014 25.7 percent of adults still smoked.

Trimbos says that by 2021, 30.9 percent of smokers made a serious effort to quit. Most smokers need several attempts to quit permanently.

So more and more people are quitting smoking. But that does not apply to people with a lower level of education, says Pharos. Half of men aged 25-45 with a lower education smoke. Tobacco addiction contributes about 30 percent to the difference in life expectancy between low and high educated people.