Up in smoke – cigarette sales here tumble by a quarter in just five years

The number of cigarettes sold in Ireland has dropped by nearly a quarter over the past five years, according to a new report.

It is 15 years since Ireland became a world leader overnight when the first workplace smoking ban was introduced.

And a new report by Euromonitor International has revealed the country has continued to see steady drops in the sale of cigarettes over the past five years.

The new figures reveal that Irish people smoked their way through 736 cigarettes, or nearly 37 packets, per capita in 2013.

But the number fell to 559 cigarettes, or nearly 28 packets per capita, in 2018 – which makes Ireland 100th in the world when it comes to smoking.

Gibraltar was number one for per-capita cigarette sales.

Second highest in the list was the tiny African island nation of Sao Tomé e Principe.

Andorra and Luxembourg were in third and fourth place respectively when it came to the sale of cigarettes in 2018.

Other heavy-smoking countries in the top 10 included Slovenia, Serbia, the Czech Republic, Albania and Georgia.

The new Euromonitor International report on smoking in Ireland 2019 said the public health authorities in Ireland remain committed to the country’s Tobacco-Free Ireland action plan.

Discourage

This aims to reduce overall smoking prevalence in the country to just 5pc by 2025.

“The plan builds on existing tobacco control measures and regulations and contains more than 60 recommendations to further discourage smoking and protect public health,” said the report.

Irish Independent