Number of smokers and former smokers in Italy 2019

In 2019, there were 11.6 million cigarette smokers in Italy. Smoking was more common among males than among females and it was particularly habitual for men aged 25 to 44 years old.

 Quitting

In 2017, most of the people who tried to quit smoking did not resort to any assistance. Only 11 percent of them recurred to nicotine replacement medications and even a lower share declared that they looked for medical support.  

Awareness of smoking related health issues

Nowadays, it is common to think that people are very much aware of the risks related to smoking. Nonetheless, it may be that some parts of the population are not that well informed. This seems to be true especially for teenagers and young people. A survey conducted in Italy in 2017 among high school students, revealed that approximately one third of the interviewees knew only partially the damages that smoking could cause to the body. Also, from the same study it came out that cancer was the smoking related disease feared the most by students, whereas heart failure and pulmonary emphysema were mentioned by a low percentage of respondents.