Definition: share of the population aged 15 and over reporting daily smoking. The data come from the National Health Surveys carried out by the Scientific Institute of Public Health/Sciensano. For the international comparison, data measuring the current proportion of smokers (not just daily smokers) are used, and they come from Eurostat. Since both indicators are based on surveys, a margin of uncertainty should be taken into account. This margin of uncertainty increases as the indicator is calculated on smaller sub-populations. The Sciensano website presents the data with confidence intervals and for European data, they are available from Eurostat upon request.

Goal: the share of daily smokers must be reduced to 9.2% by 2030.

The Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs adopted by the UN in 2015 include target 3.a: "Strengthen the implementation of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in all countries, as appropriate".

The Inter-federal Strategy 2022-2028 for a Tobacco-free Generation adopted in Belgium in 2022 aimed at reducing smoking among the general population, particularly the people aged 15-24 years (Cellule Générale des Politiques de Drogues, 2022). This strategy aims to reduce the proportion of daily smokers to 10% in 2028 and 5% in 2040. Assuming a constant reduction between 2028 and 2040, the goal would be 9.2% in 2030.

International comparison: over the period 2006-2020, the share of smokers is on average higher in the EU27 than in Belgium. Over this period, the decrease in the indicator was nevertheless greater in the EU27 than in Belgium, with a respective decrease of 22% compared to 19%. When Member States are divided into three groups, Belgium is part of the group that performs best and outperforms the European average in 2020. In that year, Sweden ranked first with 7.0% and Greece last with 42.0%.

UN indicator: the selected indicator corresponds to indicator 3.a.1 - Age-standardized prevalence of current tobacco use among persons aged 15 years and older (comparative rates by age).

Sources

• General

  • SDGs, Sustainable Development Goals: United Nations (2015), Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 25 September 2015, document A/RES/70/1.

  • Indicators: United Nations (2017), Work of the Statistical Commission pertaining to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on 6 July 2017, document A/RES/71/313.

  • UN Sustainable Development: https://sdgs.un.org/ (consulted on 18/01/2023).

  • UN Sustainable Development Goal indicators website: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/ (consulted on 18/01/2023)

• Specific

  • Cellule Générale des Politiques de Drogues (2022), Stratégie interfédérale 2022-2028 pour une génération sans tabac, https://organesdeconcertation.sante.belgique.be/sites/default/files/documents/2022_12_14_strategie_interfederale_tabac_et_annexe_final_fr.pdf (consulted on 17/10/2023).

More information is available in French and Dutch.