BACKGROUND: Increasing the price of tobacco is one of the most effective measures to reduce consumption, recommended by WHO. In France, while the prevalence of smoking is high (31% in 2023), plans to combat smoking have made it possible to significantly increase tobacco prices between 2018 and 2020 then, in a lesser extent, between 2020 and 2022. The objective of this study is to report on the evolution between 2018 and 2022 of the opinion of the French population on the increases in tobacco prices, and the declared motivation to quit smoking generated by these increases among smokers.
METHODS: Data come from the Health Barometers of Santé publique France, the national public health agency, a representative repeated telephone survey relying on a random sample of the population of 18-75 year olds residing in France. It was respectively conducted among 9,076 and 3,229 individuals in 2018 and 2022.
RESULTS: In 2022, nearly half (48.8%) of 18-75 year-olds believed that tobacco tax increases were justified, a stable proportion compared to 2018. This proportion varied according to smoking status: from 19.4% among daily smokers, down compared to 2018 (23.4%), to 64.0% among people who had never smoked.
A third of smokers (33.9%) said that tobacco price increases motivated them to quit smoking, down from 2018. A third of ex-smokers who had quit less than 5 years ago said they had been motivated by tobacco price increases.
The likelihood of being motivated to quit smoking by tobacco price increases was higher among the one third of smokers with the lowest incomes.
CONCLUSIONS: Tobacco price increases have an impact on opinion and motivation to quit smoking, particularly among the low socio-economic status smokers. However, a decline on these indicators has been observed among smokers, which could be related to the lower tobacco price increase over the last 2 years.