Alliantie Nederland Rookvrij was founded by the Dutch Heart Foundation, the Dutch Cancer Society and the Lung Foundation with the aim of working together to ensure that no one suffers or dies from the consequences of smoking anymore. The study was conducted before the tobacco excise duty increase was introduced on 1 April, which made a pack of cigarettes €1 more expensive.
Higher price leads to fewer young smokers
Before the excise duty increase, almost half of young people considered €7 a good price for a pack of cigarettes. A large proportion of the young people who did not consider €7 a good price said that they thought the current price was too low. A larger proportion of young people (71%) thought it was a good idea for the price of a pack of cigarettes to rise to €8 on 1 April 2020. Young people considered preventing young people from starting to smoke and encouraging smokers to quit the most important reasons for making cigarettes more expensive; 82 and 71 percent of young people, respectively, mentioned these reasons.
Health is the main reason not to smoke
Young people indicated the main reasons why they do not or would not smoke. The most common reasons were “it is unhealthy” and “you die sooner,” followed at some distance by the high cost. Young smokers significantly more often mentioned other physical effects, such as “it makes you cough,” as well as the fact that it causes yellow teeth.
Smoking does not have a cool image
For a large proportion of young people, smoking does not have a positive image; a majority would rather not have a relationship (85 percent) or sex (66 percent) with someone who smokes. Most also do not think it is cool: 80 percent do not think it is cool when boys and girls smoke. Among smokers, this figure is 41 percent, and among non-smokers, 88 percent.
Smokers drop out at €10
More than half of smokers (59%) would quit if the price of a pack of cigarettes rose to €10. This increases to eight in ten young people at €13, and 90 percent of smokers would quit at €15 per pack of cigarettes.
A substantial majority (84%) of smokers indicated that, based on their purchase frequency and the (old) rounded price of €7 for a pack of cigarettes, they spent a maximum of €364 per year. If these smokers have not adjusted their smoking habits following the excise duty increase, they now spend a maximum of €416 per year. Young people who smoked a pack of cigarettes every day would save €2,555 per year if they quit smoking; they accounted for 5 percent of young smokers. Following the excise duty increase, these young people spend an average of €2,920 per year if they do not change their smoking habits. If young people quit smoking, they would most like to spend their money on (brand-name) clothing (19%), going out (17%) or a scooter (16%).
Social relationships versus smoking
In general, smokers consider social relationships more important than smoking. For example, 43 percent say they would stop smoking if someone close to them became seriously ill. A comparable proportion (41 percent) say they would quit smoking if they started dating someone who does not smoke. Approximately half (55 percent) of smokers say that it is difficult to start a relationship when you smoke, and approximately the same proportion of smokers (54 percent) would rather not smoke for a month than not meet up with friends for a month.
Half support a ban on cigarettes
More than half of young people believe that cigarettes should be banned altogether rather than made more expensive. Smokers are—logically—less often in favor of this, but even so, one-third still view it positively. More young people aged 12 to 15 support a ban on cigarettes than those aged 16 and over; 60 percent and 49 percent of them, respectively, are in favor of this.