Smoking in New Zealand
In New Zealand, smoking is legal but subject to tobacco control regulations. Cigarettes are regulated as tobacco products and can be sold through retail outlets, including online sales and vending machines. The importation of cigarettes for trade is allowed with a trade license. Health warnings on packaging are mandatory, the legal minimum age for purchase is 18 years, and smoking in public places is subject to legal restrictions. A comprehensive ban on tobacco advertising is also in place. Cigarettes in New Zealand are taxed at a total rate of 82.78%, including an excise component of 69.74%. Data show that in 2024, the number of current smokers was recorded to be approximately 364,000 in New Zealand, corresponding to an adult smoking prevalence of 8.6%. In the same year, current smoking prevalence was slightly higher among males (9.7%) than among females (7.7%). In 2022, this prevalence was recorded to be 11.4%. In 2023, the adult daily tobacco smoking prevalence was reported to be 7.7%, with approximately 362,845 daily smokers. In 2021, smoking led to approximately 3,580 deaths in New Zealand, including 2,085 deaths among males and 1,495 deaths among females. In other words, tobacco smoking accounted for 10.38% of all deaths in the country in 2021, including11.78% of all male deaths and 8.9% of all female deaths.
Read articles from New Zealand
January 26, 2024 by 1news.co.nz
Tax Freeze for Cigarettes in NZ First Minister's Plans
NZ First's Associate Health Minister Casey Costello has a lot of ideas about the regulation of tobacco - many of them will be controversial.
January 26, 2024 by kiwiblog.co.nz
ASH Says Current Policies Working to Make Smoke Free Target
Our decline in smoking in the past four years is extraordinary – equivalent to what took two decades to achieve. New Zealand has recently had some of the most dramatic decreases in smoking in the world, including for Māori and highly deprived groups.
January 18, 2024 by theconversation.com
Reducing nicotine in tobacco would help people quit – without prohibiting cigarettes
Supporters of the new government’s plan to repeal Aotearoa New Zealand’s smokefree legislation have claimed victory against “prohibition”. Introduced under Jacinda Ardern’s government, the smokefree law came into effect in January 2023 and included a commitment to introduce mandated “denicotinisation” (cutting the nicotine to levels that are no longer addictive) of smoked tobacco products. Studies estimated this measure would have greatly reduced smoking and helped prevent avoidable death and suffering. However, opponents, notably the tobacco industry and its allies, criticised the measure as “prohibition”.
January 11, 2024 by colinmendelsohn.com.au
New Zealand well on track to be smokefree next year
Almost a quarter of a million fewer Kiwis are now smoking daily, and it puts us in a tiny club of countries that have smoking rates under 7 per cent. What we have in common with these successful countries is people switching from smoked tobacco to less harmful alternatives. To reach the smoking goal of 5 per cent or less (that is, 95 per cent or more of all adults being “smokefree”), around 100,000 smokers need to quit over the next two years. Our decline in smoking in the last four years is extraordinary - equivalent to what took two decades to achieve. The unprecedented progress shown in the New Zealand Health Survey should have been a cause to celebrate. [...]
January 09, 2024 by youtube.com
Prof. Marewa Glover Comments On New Zealand Scrapping The World-First Smoking 'Generation Ban'
We sit down with Prof. Marewa Glover to discuss the recent THR news from New Zealand.
December 13, 2023 by nzherald.co.nz
Snuff and chewing tobacco could be legalised to help smokers quit - but researchers are sceptical about the benefits
Snuff and smokeless tobacco are being considered as tools to help smokers quit under the new Government’s smokefree plans. And while those products have contributed to reduced smoking rates overseas, New Zealand experts on tobacco control are sceptical about whether they would be successful here. The National-led Government has promised to scrap the previous government’s anti-smoking laws, prompting widespread condemnation from the healthcare sector and generating global headlines.
December 06, 2023 by filtermag.org
New Zealand Splits Opinion by Scrapping Smoking Ban
New Zealand’s new coalition government plans to abandon the country’s world-first policy of an incremental smoking ban, in order to fund tax cuts. Just as the original policy divided expert opinion, so has news of its repeal. [...] Proponents said that this and other measures in the package, like reducing the number of tobacco retailers by 90 percent and cutting the legal amount of nicotine in cigarettes, would help the country reach its goal of being “smokefree” (prevalence below 5 percent) by 2025. No similar restrictions were imposed on vape sales.
November 27, 2023 by bbc.com
New Zealand smoking ban: Health experts criticise new government's shock reversal
New Zealand's new government says it plans to scrap the nation's world-leading smoking ban to fund tax cuts. The legislation, introduced under the previous Jacinda Ardern-led government, would have banned cigarette sales next year to anyone born after 2008. Smoking is the leading cause of preventable deaths in New Zealand, and the policy had aimed to stop young generations from picking up the habit. Health experts have strongly criticised the sudden reversal. "We are appalled and disgusted... this is an incredibly retrograde step on world-leading, absolutely excellent health measures," said Prof Richard Edwards, a tobacco control researcher and public health expert at the University of Otago.
November 24, 2023 by bloomberg.com
New Zealand’s Next Government to Scrap Law Curbing Tobacco Sales
New Zealand’s vaunted laws aimed at making the country smoke-free will be repealed by its new center-right government. Legislation banning tobacco sales to people born after 2008 will be dumped by the new administration, according to coalition agreements released Friday in Wellington. The new government, which comprises the National, ACT and New Zealand First parties, will also stop a plan to reduce in the number of retail outlets
October 19, 2023 by radio-canada.ca
The U.K. and New Zealand want to ban the next generation from smoking at any age. Should Canada follow?
Officials elsewhere want to create the first 'smoke-free generation' As some countries move toward banning the next generation from smoking, experts here say Canada should weigh whether a similar ban could work to stop youth from picking up the habit. [...] Experts who study teen smoking and vaping habits say although these smoking bans don't necessarily target vaping, a public discussion about a generational smoking ban and what that could look like in Canada is warranted. There are lots of contextual factors that come to play that we really need to consider when we are thinking about implementing something like this in Canada, said Laura Struik, [...]