Table 1.
Summary of survey details and methods for 27 European Union (EU) countries, and the Eurobarometer survey
| Country/country code | Survey name | Year of the survey | Main question for measurement of smoking prevalence* | Age range | Number of survey participants | Response rate (%) | Sampling method | Data collection method | National Survey Smoking prevalence estimates (%) | Eurobarometer smoking prevalence estimates in year 2006 (%) (all smokers included except where specified) | ||||
| Daily | Occasional | Total | Regular | Occasional | Total | |||||||||
| EU7 | Eurobarometer | 2006 | Which of the following applies to you? you smoke packed cigarettes/you smoke roll-up cigarettes/you smoke cigars or a pipe/you chew tobacco or take snuff/you used to smoke but you have stopped. Do you smoke regularly, or occasionally? For cigarette smokers: Do you smoke every day? |
15+ | 27 084 (EU 27) |
NA | Multistage random sample | Face-to-face computer assisted interview | EU25, EU27 (estimated) | 27.2, 27.0 | 4.5, 4.4 | 32.0,§ 31.6 | ||
| Austria (AT)11 |
Health Interview Survey | 2006/2007 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally; no |
15+ | 15 474 | 63.1 | Multistage probability sample | Computer assisted personal interview | 23.2 | NA | NA | 25.1 | 5.9 | 31.0 |
| Belgium (BE)12–14 |
Health Interview Survey Belgium | 2004 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally; no |
15+ | 6530 | 61.4 | Stratified multistage cluster sample | Self-administered questionnaire (delivered with personal interview) | 23.7 | 3.9 | 27.6 | 21.1 | 4.7§ | 26.0 |
| Bulgaria (BG)†15,16 |
National Behavioural Risk Factor Survey among population aged 25–64 | 2007 | Current users: daily/occasional smoking |
25–64 | 3000 | NA | Multistage cluster sample | Interviewer administered questionnaire | 39.6 | 5.6 | 45.2 | 32.4 | 3.2§ | 36.0 |
| Cyprus (CY)17 |
Health Survey | 2003 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
15+ | 5617 | 91.9 | Simple systematic random sample | Computer assisted personal interview | 23.9 | 3.8 | 27.7 | 25.7 | 5.3 | 31.0 |
| Czech Republic (CZ)18 | Sample Survey of the Health Status and Life Style of the Population in the Czech Republic Focused on Drug Use | 2004 | Do you currently smoke cigarettes? yes: daily; occasionally no I don't smoke cigarettes, but smoke a pipe or cigars |
18–64 | 3526 | 68.2 | Randomised stratified (quota) sample | Face-to-face interview | 26.8 | 8.8 | 37.3 | 26.3 | 1.7 | 28.0** (29.0) |
| Denmark (DK)19–21 |
Health and Morbidity Denmark 2005: development since 1987 | 2005 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
16+ | 14 566 | 66.7 | Random sample composed of two subsamples: reinterview sample and regional samples | Computer assisted personal interview; self-administered questionnaire | 29.6 | 6.1 | 35.7 | 27.5 | 4.5 | 32.0 |
| Estonia (EE)22 |
Health Behaviour Among Estonian Adult Population | 2006 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
16–64 | 2867 | 57.3 | Simple random sample | Self-administered postal questionnaire | 27.8 | 7.3 | 35.1 | 28.7 | 4.3 | 33.0 |
| Finland (FI)23 |
Health Behaviour and Health Among the Finnish Adult Population | 2006 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
15–64 | 3255 | 65.0 | Simple random sample | Self-administered postal questionnaire | 21.4 | 6.1 | 27.5 | 20.3 | 5.7 | 26.0 |
| France (FR)24,25 |
Health Barometer | 2005 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
12–75 | 30 514 | 57.9 | Two stage random sampling | Telephone interview | 24.9 | 5.0 | 29.9 | 29.4 | 3.6 | 33.0 |
| Germany (DE)26–28 |
Mikrozensus | 2005 | Do you smoke now? yes: regularly occasionally no |
15+ | 830 000 | Approximately 84.2% (tobacco questions) | One stage cluster sample | Computer assisted personal interview | 23.0†† | 4.0 | 27.0 | 25.5 | 4.5 | 30.0 |
| Greece (EL)‡29 |
European Community Household Panel Survey | Published 2005 | NA | 25–59 | 5489 | NA | NA | NA | NA | NA | 40.0 | 37.4 | 4.6 | 42.0 |
| Hungary (HU)†30–32 |
National Health Interview Survey | 2003 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
18+ | 5072 | 72.0 | Multistage cluster sample | Face-to-face interview (partly self-administered) | 30.4 | 3.4 | 33.8 | 33.5 | 2.5 | 36.0 |
| Ireland (IE)33–35 |
Survey of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Nutrition (SLAN) | 2007 (data collection started 2006) | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
18+ | 10 364 | 62.0 | Multistage probability sample | Face-to-face interview | 24.1 | 4.9 | 29.0 | 25.5 | 3.5 | 29.0 |
| Italy (IT)36–38 |
Aspects of Daily Living | 2006 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
14+ | 48 834 (50 000 given in published report) | 81.3 | Two stage stratified sample | Face-to-face interview | NA | NA | 22.7 | 23.9 | 5.6 | 31.0 |
| Latvia (LV)39 |
Health Behaviour Among Latvian Adult Population | 2006 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
15–64 | 1584 | 54.6 | Simple random sample | Self-administered postal questionnaire | 30.4 | 4.9 | 35.3 | 31.0 | 5.0 | 36.0 |
| Lithuania (LT)40 |
Health Behaviour Among Lithuanian Adult Population | 2006 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
20–64 | 1739 | 59.2 | Simple probability sample | Self-administered postal questionnaire | 26.5 | 5.3 | 31.8 | 26.2 | 7.8 | 34.0 |
| Luxembourg (LU)41 | Tobacco in Luxembourg | 2007 | Daily/occasional smoking | 15+ | 2523 | NA | Random quota sampling | Face-to-face interviews | 21.0 | 4.0 | 25.0 | 23.7 | 2.3 | 26.0 |
| Malta (MT)42 |
Lifestyle Survey | 2007 | How many cigarettes do you smoke every day? | 18+ | 1369 | 68.5 | Systematic random sample | Self-administered postal questionnaire | NA | NA | 26.2 | 21.5¶ | 3.5¶ | 25.0¶ (25.0) |
| The Netherlands (NL)43 | Monitoring Trends in Smoking Behaviour in Dutch Population | 2006 | Smoking behaviour: Smokes (daily/non-daily)/never smoked/formerly smoked |
15+ | 18 031 | NA | From TNS database | Self-administered web survey questionnaire | 23.2 | 4.9 | 28.2‡‡ | 23.5 | 5.5 | 29.0 |
| Poland (PL)44 |
Health Status of Population in Poland | 2004 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
15+ | 35 248 | 70.0 | Stratified two stage sample | Face-to-face interview | 26.3 | 4.0 | 30.3 | 30.1 | 4.6§ | 35.0 |
| Portugal (PT)45,46 |
Portuguese National Health Survey | 2005/2006 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
10+ | 41 193 | 76.0 | Stratified systematic cluster sample | Computer assisted personal interview | 17.6 | 2.1 | 19.7 | 21.4 | 2.6 | 24.0 |
| Romania (RO)47 |
Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of the General Population on the Consumption of Tobacco and the Legislative Provisions | 2007 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
15–59 | 2434 | 87.0 | Multistage probability sample | Face-to-face interview | NA | NA | 30.0 | 27.0 | 3.7§ | 31.0 |
| Slovakia (SK)48 |
Prevalence of Drug Use in Slovakia, and Citizens' Views on the Problems Associated with Drug Addiction | 2006 | Occasional/daily smoker/non-smoker | 18+ | 1439 (data presented for only one of the 3 samples) | NA | Random quota sample | Telephone interview | 25.0 | 13.0 | 38.0 | 20.3 | 4.5§ | 25.0 |
| Slovenia (SI)49,50 |
European Health Interview Survey | 2007 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
15+ | Approximately 2312 | 68.0 | Two stage probability sample | Face-to-face interview | 18.9 | 6.0 | 24.9 | 17.9 | 5.1 | 23.0 |
| Spain (ES)51–53 |
National Health Survey | 2006 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
16+ | 29 478 | 64.3 | Stratified multistage sampling | Face-to-face interview | 26.4 | 3.1 | 29.5 | 30.9 | 3.1 | 34.0 |
| Sweden (SE)54–57 |
Health on Equal Terms (national sample results) | 2006 | Do you smoke now? yes: daily; occasionally no |
16–84 | 5995 | 60.1 | Stratified multistage probability sample | Postal self-administered questionnaire | 14.1 | 10.4 | 24.5 | 14.4 | 3.6 | 18.0 |
| UK58–60 | General Household Survey (excludes Northern Ireland) | 2006 | Do you smoke cigarettes at all nowadays? yes/no | 16+ | 18 214 | 76.0 | Stratified two stage probability sample | Computer assisted personal interview | NA | NA | 22.0 | 30.4¶ | 1.6¶ | 32.0¶ (33.0) |
*
Summarised to provide key outcomes available.
†
Exact questions unknown; details of methodology provided from WHO Global InfoBase.
‡
Details of methods unknown; data provided from secondary source.
§
Excludes small proportion of smokers for whom regular/occasional smoking status is unknown: 0.3% Belgium, 0.4% Bulgaria, 1.6% Italy, 0.4% Poland, 0.3% Romania, 0.2% Slovakia, 0.3% EU27.
¶
Daily/non-daily smoking of cigarettes and overall cigarette smoking prevalence (overall smoking prevalence estimate in brackets).
**
For Czech Republic national survey data on daily and occasional smoking refer to cigarette smoking only, but total figure represents overall smoking (including 1.7% cigars and pipes smokers). For Eurobarometer survey data regular and occasional smoking represents daily/non-daily cigarette smoking and overall cigarette smoking (overall smoking prevalence in brackets).
††
Represents regular smoking.
‡‡
0.1% not known daily/occasional smoking status.
EU27, 27 European Union members; NA, data not available; TNS, TNS Opinion database (http://www.tns-opinion.com/home/).