Just 1% of Maltese are vaping

While more than a quarter of Maltese smokers have tried electronic cigarettes, very few have kept on using them, a survey by Eurobarometer shows.

Only 1% of current Maltese smokers use e-cigarettes although 27% have tried them once while 15% have used them for a time.

Consumption of e-cigarettes in Malta is largely limited to smokers. 

Electronic cigarettes – which consist of battery-powered devices which produce vapour that is then inhaled by the smoker – contain no tobacco and leave behind no tar, but do not cure smokers’ addiction to nicotine.

While 57% of current smokers have used them at least once, 92% of ex-smokers and 94% of non-smokers have never used electronic cigarettes. Only 1% of ex-smokers have used e-cigarettes regularly for a time.

In all EU countries 4% of current smokers are using e-cigarettes, whose consumption is highest in the UK (11% of current smokers) and France (8% of current smokers) and is lowest in Malta, Spain, Sweden and Romania, where only 1% of smokers use e-cigarettes. 

The survey shows the Maltese as being among the least likely to smoke in Europe.  Just 20% are current smokers. Only the Finns and the Swedes smoke less than the Maltese. The Greeks (38%) and the Bulgarians (35%) are the most likely smokers.

19% of the Maltese are ex-smokers. On average Maltese smokers smoke 15 cigarettes a day.

Malta has the highest proportion of respondents who tried to quit using support from a doctor or health professional (10%). On average in Europe as a whole only 5% have sought support from health professionals.

Ireland (74%), Cyprus (73%) and Malta (69%) have the largest proportions of respondents who are in favour of banning colours, logos and promotional elements from tobacco product packaging, particularly compared with the Netherlands (43%) and Bulgaria (45%). Sweden (70%), Finland (68%) and Malta (67%) have the largest proportions of respondents in favour of increasing taxes on tobacco products, particularly compared with France (39%), Greece (41%) and Bulgaria (43%). 

These results are not surprising considering that Sweden, Finland and Malta have the lowest proportions of current smokers, while France, Greece and Bulgaria have three of the four highest proportions of current smokers.