Since the beginning of the pandemic: the proportion of smokers in Germany has been increasing

Smoking not only endangers your own health, it also damages the environment enormously.

Many resources are used to manufacture cigarettes, and toxic chemicals often end up in the garbage after smoking, as the World Health Organization (WHO) states in a recent report.

And the problem is not getting any smaller: in Germany alone, every third person now smokes.

The proportion of smokers in Germany is currently almost 33 percent among people over the age of 14, as the representative long-term study "German survey on smoking behavior" (Debra) shows.

Before the corona pandemic, the proportion of smokers in the population aged 14 and over was around 26 to 27 percent.

By the end of 2021, the rate had already risen to 30.9 percent.

It is a frightening development, said epidemiologist and Debra director Daniel Kotz of the German Press Agency on the occasion of World No Tobacco Day on May 31.

Smoking as a late consequence of Corona

Kotz heads the research focus on addiction at the University Hospital in Düsseldorf.

The rising smoking rate is probably an effect of the pandemic.

It is a late consequence of Corona that people are increasingly turning to tobacco products.

As reported by the Federal Statistical Office in Wiesbaden, around 75,500 people died in Germany in 2020 as a result of smoking.

By far the most common cause of death was cancer.

Tobacco consumption costs 600 million trees every year

According to the WHO report "Tobacco: Poisoning Our Planet", the production and consumption of tobacco costs more than eight million lives worldwide every year, as well as 600 million trees, 200,000 hectares of land and 22 billion tons of water, and releases around 84 million tons of climate-damaging carbon dioxide ( CO2) free.

The amount of CO2 corresponds to the emissions of around 17 million petrol-powered cars annually.

Tobacco products contained over 7,000 toxic chemicals that were released into the environment when discarded, said Rüdiger Krech, WHO director for health promotion.

Around 4.5 trillion cigarette filters end up in oceans and rivers, on sidewalks and floors and on beaches every year.

The cost of cleaning up discarded tobacco products is almost always borne by taxpayers, not industry.

This costs China the equivalent of around 2.6 billion dollars (2.4 billion euros) and India around 766 million dollars (around 712 million euros) annually.

According to WHO estimates, the costs for Germany amount to more than 200 million dollars (186 million euros).

The WHO called on countries and cities to make industry more responsible for cleaning up tobacco residue.

In addition, politicians should consider a ban on cigarette filters.

These contained microplastics and are a major contributor to plastic pollution.

According to the WHO, however, their health benefits have not been proven.