This year, as compared to 2012, the ranks of smokers have shrunk by 4 percentage points to 26 percent of total population, which is in line with the European Union’s (EU) average.
However, the average age when people in Lithuania take up smoking (19.1 years) is higher than in the EU (17.6 years).
“Figures show that the fight against tobacco is not won, particularly amongst the young. It is unacceptable that Europeans continue to be attracted to smoking when they are teenagers,” Vytenis Povilas Andriukaitis, European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said in a press release.
Tobacco use in the EU ranges from as low as 11 percent in Sweden and 19 percent in Finland to as high as 38 percent in Greece and 35 percent in Bulgaria.
The proportion of those who regard e-cigarettes as harmful has increased to 52 percent, from 27 percent two years ago.
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