New Zealand Uses Swedish Blueprint for Reducing Smoking Rates

How a Nordic Inspiration carries all the way to New Zealand and its Journey Towards a Smoke-Free Future

A newly released report, titled “Quitting Strong: New Zealand’s Smoking Cessation Success Story”, shows how New Zealand is following in Sweden’s footsteps in the global effort to reduce smoking rates through harm-reduction strategies. By promoting vaping as a risk-reduced nicotine alternative and by implementing supportive public health campaigns, New Zealand, facing historically high smoking rates, has halved its smoking rates in five years. This progressive approach has brought the country closer to achieving its goal of less than 5% adult smoking prevalence by 2025, with a current smoking rate of 6.8%.

New Zealand’s success illustrates that the “Swedish model” of tobacco harm reduction can be effectively replicated elsewhere, with the potential for other countries to achieve similar results.

Often serving as the example, Sweden’s dramatic decline in smoking rates, from 49% of men smoking 60 years ago to just 5.6% of adults smoking in 2022, is attributed to the widespread adoption of smokeless alternatives like snus and vaping. This reduction has resulted in significantly lower cancer rates and tobacco-related deaths compared to other European countries, showcasing the effectiveness of Sweden’s approach.

The report shares five critical factors to New Zealand’s success. These consist of the New Zealand government:

Recognising tobacco harm reduction
Endorsing information and discouraging misinformation
Implementing risk-proportionate policies
Increasing availability
Adopting an ethical and compassionate approach.

Governments worldwide can and should replicate these five elements. Moreover, the report recommends accessibility, acceptability, and affordability accompanied by risk-proportionate regulation and increased scientific research and innovation. By adopting a pragmatic and evidence-based approach, New Zealand and Sweden have demonstrated that a smoke-free future is not only attainable but is at hand.

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