Record numbers stop smoking but one third of young Dutch adults still light up

In 2017 a record 110,000 people in the Netherlands stopped smoking, taking the percentage of adult smokers in the population to 23.1%, according to new figures from national statistics office CBS from the Trimbos addiction clinic.

In addition, tens of thousands of people are smoking less, the CBS said. In total, 2.35 million people now say they smoke every day, down 170,000 on 2016.

Some 27% of men say they smoke, of whom over 19% light up every day. Just under one in five women smokes, while 14.5% have at least one cigarette on a daily basis.

The Trimbos institute said it is notable that the biggest proportion of occasional smokers are among young adults, with 32.6% of people aged 20 to 24 saying they smoke, but not every day.

Adults aged 40 to 65 are the most likely to be hardened smokers, with just under 20% saying they smoke on a daily basis.