MOSCOW, 31 May 2023. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the findings of a monitoring survey on how popular tobacco smoking is in Russia.

Anti-smoking regulation in effect

In 2013, Russia adopted an anti-smoking law banning smoking in public places, tobacco advertising and restrictions on retail sale of cigarettes. As a result, the number of smokers has decreased by 6 p.p. over the first year (35%; 41% in 2013). Subsequently, the rate of decline slightly slowed down and did not exceed 1-3 p.p. a year. Overall, the number of smokers has reduced from 41% to 30% over the recent ten years. The number of those who stopped smoking has doubled since 2013 (19% vs. 10% in 2013).

Chain smokers (persons who smoke at least a pack of cigarettes a day) are those who were affected the most by the law: 24% in 2013 vs 17% today. The number of occasional smokers (persons who smoke several cigarettes a day/a week) has not changed much over the ten years (13% today vs 17% in 2013).

More than half of the smokers in Russia (the share is 30%) say they smoke the same amount as a year ago (58%); they are mainly heavy smokers (65%). Every fifth respondent smokes more than twelve months ago (20%); the same number of the Russians surveyed report the opposite (21% smoke less).

Those who would like to stop smoking often report that they smoke less (25%); this percentage is twice as low in the group of those who are not willing to quit smoking (14%), which means that those who want to quit smoking also take steps towards making it come true.

Quitting smoking

Smoking Russians are overwhelmingly willing to quit smoking: 67% in May compared to 57% in 2013. Thirty percent of the respondents do not want to stop smoking.

Today the Russians are less likely to be driven by their desire to quit smoking (13% in the group of smokers vs 22% in 2017). Other reasons why smokers would like to get rid of this habit are as follows:

1. Internal reasons (“desire to quit smoking” – 13%; “willpower/self-confidence” – 9%; “motivation/solid reason” – 3%);
2. Health issues (“problems with health/diseases” – 11%; “pregnancy” – 1%);
3. Favorable emotional background (“no stressful situations/calm life” – 7%; “life has improved/well-being”- 2%; “stability in the country” – 2%);
4. External limitations (“discontinuance/ban on selling cigarettes’ – 4%; “higher prices for tobacco products” – 3%);
5. Unlikely events (“apocalypse/cataclysm” — 2%, “miracle” — 2%).

Another 8% say that under no circumstances will they ever stop smoking; compared to the previous year this percentage has declined (13% in 2022). Every third respondent found it hard to answer this question (31%).

Non-smokers

The survey reveals that one in two Russians have never smoked (50%). They are largely women (69%), respondents with higher education (57%), the 18-24-year-olds (59%) and Russians aged 60+ (61%). The previous data indicate that older generation showed no interest in cigarettes ten years ago (65% in 2013), which is not the case among young Russians. Today the number of the 18-24-year-olds who smoke is at 23%; in 2013 that was the percentage of heavy smokers, whereas the overall number of the 18-24-year-olds who smoked was 48%. This proves that millennials are more likely to adhere to healthy lifestyle than other age groups.

Social advertising

Social advertising should be aimed at fighting violence against children (43%), combating corruption (39%) and drug addiction (36%). Fewer respondents mention fighting tobacco smoking (only 11%). As smoking is getting less popular, public demand for anti-smoking advertising is also fading out: the problem was ranked fifth in 2011 (20%), seventh in 2017 (18%), and seventh (last) in 2023.

VCIOM-Sputnik Russian nationwide telephone survey was conducted 12 May, 2023. A total of 1,600 Russians aged 18 and older took part in the survey. Survey method: telephone interviews, stratified random sample based on a complete list of mobile phone numbers in use in Russia. The data were weighted for socio-demographic characteristics. The margin of error at a 95% confidence level does not exceed 2.5%. In addition to sampling error, minor changes to the wording of questions and different circumstances arising during the fieldwork can introduce bias into the survey.

Key effectiveness indicators, survey of May 12, 2023: cooperation rate (CR)* = 0.7908; minimum response rate (MRR)** = 0.0176; response rate (RR)*** = 0.1876. Calculations are based on the corporate standard https://profi.wciom.ru/principy_standarty/korporativnyj-standart-po-izmereniyu-rezultativnosti-oprosov-sputnik-vciom/

 * CR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews and b) non-interviews with eligible respondents.

** MRR: the number of complete interviews divided by the sum of: а) complete interviews, b) interrupted interviews after successful screening and c) all the respondents where it is unknown whether they meet the selected criteria or not.

** RR is calculated in the same way as MRR, with the only difference that the number of respondents with unknown eligibility decreases proportional to the percentage of eligible cases in the total number of respondents with identified eligibility or non-eligibility.