Easy access to vaping blamed for high smoking rates in Kuwait

According to the latest statistics of the Central Statistical Bureau in June 2023, prices of cigarettes and tobacco increased by 0.37 percent. Despite the hike, the smoking rate in Kuwait keeps on increasing, whether with regular cigarettes or alternatives. In 2021, Kuwait ranked first in the Gulf in smoking, as 39.9 percent of men and 3 percent of women in the country are smokers, according to the head of the healthy cities’ office at the health ministry Dr Amal Al-Yahya, indicating the latest statistics by the health ministry showed the annual cost of smoking in Kuwait reached KD 481 million.