Cigarette sales have halved in 14 years

SALES of cigarettes have dropped by over half – but the nation still spends as much as €1.4billion a year on them.

There were 2.8billion individual cigarettes sold last year, down from 6.3billion in 2003, a drop of 56%.

A Euromonitor report reveals smokers last year forked out €1.4billion on their habit – but it predicts the nation’s smoking habits will continue to decline. Cigarette sales are predicted to slump by 1% to stand at 2.3billion sticks in 2022.

Our smoking habit, at an average of 577 cigarettes per person per year, pales in comparison to the Belarusians who are the world’s heaviest smokers with 2,323 cigarettes per capita last year. Macedonia and Serbia are in second and third place in the world table with all of the top ten countries coming from eastern Europe. Ireland ranks 51st in the world.

Ireland saw the biggest fall in cigarette smoking in 2004 when the workplace smoking ban came into force. Ministers here are introducing plain packaging on packs following similar moves in the UK, Australia and France. Euromonitor said evidence suggests that while this will lead to fewer smokers it will not be as significant as the anti-tobacco lobby suggests.

It added that it could lead to increased product substitution such as roll-your-own cigarettes or vaping.

The report said illicit trade in cigarettes is to grow as Ireland is one of the three most expensive countries in the EU.