Smoking in Azerbaijan
Smoking is legally allowed in Azerbaijan with some restrictions. It is legal to use, sell, and buy cigarettes, including through online channels. However, purchasing cigarettes from vending machines is not legal. The import of cigarettes for trade is allowed with a license. Health warnings on cigarette packaging are mandatory and the minimum legal age for purchasing cigarettes is 18 years. Additionally, there are legal restrictions on smoking in public places. A general taxation rate of 50% is applied to cigarette products. As of 2024, Azerbaijan had an estimated 1.4 million current adult smokers, which corresponds to an adult current smoking prevalence of 18.2%. Among males, the prevalence was 37.9%, while among females, it was 0.1%. According to 2017 data, the number of daily smokers was approximately 1.2 million. The adult daily smoking prevalence was 16.3%, with 33.2% among males and 0.2% among females. In 2021, tobacco smoking resulted to an estimated 11.3 thousand deaths in Azerbaijan. Of these, 9.3 thousand were male deaths, and 2 thousand were female deaths. This shows that smoking caused 12.6% of all deaths in the country, including 18.81% of male deaths and 4.91% of female deaths in that year.
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January 16, 2019 by azernews.az
WHO: Cigarette prices should be increased
Fatos Hande Harmanci, representative of the World Health Organization in Azerbaijan said, that tobacco use remains a serious problem all over the world.
“Unfortunately, there are also many tobacco users in Azerbaijan”, she said.
She noted that about 1.3 million people use tobacco in Azerbaijan.
"Half of the people who use tobacco in the country die before the age of 70. Therefore, it is crucial to fight seriously in order to prevent tobacco use. [...]