New Zealand's accelerating smoking decline: lessons for tobacco harm reduction
June 26, 2026 by thelancet.com
New Zealand's accelerating smoking decline: lessons for tobacco harm reduction
New Zealand’s experience shows how quickly progress on smoking can become complicated when policy loses sight of harm reduction. Restrictive approaches may aim to reduce tobacco use, but they can also leave smokers with fewer practical routes away from combustible cigarettes. If lower-risk alternatives are limited, stigmatised or made harder to access, public health gains may be weakened rather than strengthened. Effective policy should reduce smoking-related harm while keeping realistic, regulated options available for people who need them.
8.60% of the adult population are current smokers. There are approximately 364,000 current smokers in New Zealand.
SOURCE: GSTHR
