The number of people attempting to quit smoking decreased last year. This was revealed on Monday from research by the Trimbos Institute. Marc Willemsen, Tabak program head at Trimbos, is concerned and says that the figures are a signal to politicians.
In 2020, 36 percent of smokers indicated that they had tried to quit, that percentage fell to 31 percent in 2021. These people indicated that they had not smoked a cigarette for at least 24 hours. It is unknown whether it was also possible to stop. However, the new figures show that the total number of smokers in the Netherlands has not decreased further this year.
According to Willemsen, the number of people making an attempt to quit should at least remain the same, and should increase if the policy is intensified. He points to other countries, including Australia and the United States, where the percentage of people trying to quit is much higher than here in the Netherlands.
“It really has to do with the fact that no clear incentives have been issued from the government,” Willemsen concludes. A number of measures were introduced in 2020, such as increases in excise duties, sales points that were out of sight and a smoking ban in schoolyards. At the same time, the institute also saw that there was more smoking that year, partly due to stress due to corona and working from home, where the smoking-limiting measures at the office do not apply.
In 2021, when the cabinet became caretaker, the introduction of new measures also came to a halt. And that, according to the institute, is reflected in the figures.
Trimbos argues for more measures
Raising the price and smoking bans are measures that have a real effect on the number of people who smoke, according to research by Trimbos. However, according to the institute, these measures are not yet deployed enough or should be deployed more quickly. One of the measures it refers to is to increase the price of a pack of cigarettes.
According to Willemsen, it is “waiting for a state secretary to pick up this subject again”. The National Prevention Agreement states that there must be a smoke-free generation by 2040. “That target will not be achieved if we do nothing for a few years.”