World No Tobacco Day: The number of young smokers nationwide has risen sharply

2023-05-30 12:23:41

Health World No Tobacco Day

The number of young smokers nationwide has risen sharply

As of 12:23 p.m | Reading time: 2 minutes

Source: Sven Hoppe/dpa/symbol image

As a result of the Corona crisis, the number of young smokers in Germany has increased by 83 percent. An expert from the commercial health insurance company describes this development as “worrying”. One of the reasons for the increase is peer pressure.

DAccording to surveys, the number of young smokers in Germany has increased significantly as a result of the Corona crisis. Last year, eleven percent of 16- to 29-year-olds described themselves as regular smokers in a Forsa survey, the commercial health insurance company KKH announced on Tuesday in Hanover on World No Tobacco Day on May 31. In an earlier survey by the Forsa Institute, only six percent of respondents of this age stated that they smoked regularly before Corona. Both surveys were commissioned by the KKH.

The number of young smokers rose by 83 percent. In the middle age group of 30 to 49 year olds, on the other hand, the proportion of regular smokers increased only slightly by eleven percent. According to the results, it even fell by 17 percent among those aged 50 to 69. “The fact that young people in particular are smoking more and more regularly is worrying,” said Michael Falkenstein, an expert on addiction issues at the KKH. The reasons can be fear, frustration and loneliness because many young people lost perspectives during the Corona crisis.

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For many young people, smoking also has a social background, explained Falkenstein. They picked up cigarettes because their peers did the same. They wanted to look cool and grown up and not be outsiders. E-cigarettes and e-shishas, ​​which are supposedly less harmful to health than cigarettes, are particularly popular. “But that’s a fallacy,” warned the expert: “The vapor from e-cigarettes also contains substances that can harm the body.”

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