The decline in legal tobacco sales continued in 2025 in France, noted Wednesday May 27 the French Observatory of Drugs and Addictive Tendencies (OFDT) in a context of smoking at “ever lower levels”. “The volumes of tobacco sold in the tobacconist network have decreased by 8.2% compared to 2024,” indicates the OFDT in its annual report on the subject.
The border departments are, however, less affected by this drop than in previous years. Belgium and Luxembourg have notably carried out significant tax increases, which reduced the tax advantage which attracted French smokers.
Total sales in mainland France in this network of traders amount to 30,165 tonnes in 2025, after 32,846 tonnes the previous year. Despite the decrease in volumes, overall tobacco turnover will reach 18.4 billion euros in 2025, a quasi-stable level since 2017 with average growth of 0.2% per year.
If sales of cigarettes and hand-rolling tobacco decline in 2025 compared to the previous year (respectively – 8.7% and – 9.6%), those of hookahs, pipe tobacco, blunts or other smoking tobacco increase by 5.8%.
Daily smoking less than 5%
Another observation made by the OFDT: France smokes less. Less than one in five adults aged 18 to 75 said they smoked daily in 2024, i.e. “the lowest prevalence ever recorded since 2000”, underlines the OFDT in its report.
This trend is found among young people. While in 2010 30.8% of high school students smoked every day, the proportion dropped to 5.6% in 2024. On the other hand, daily use of electronic cigarettes among high school students continues to increase.
“France is now one of ten countries, mainly Nordic, whose daily smoking level is less than 5%,” notes the OFDT. This is accompanied by an increase in sales of nicotine replacement treatments in pharmacies (+ 7% in 2025 compared to 2024).
The volumes of tobacco sold fall into three categories: legal sales at tobacconists, legal sales abroad or duty free, and illegal sales. Only the first are subject to regular monitoring by customs declaration of deliveries to mainland retailers, points out the OFDT.
France remains a preferred destination for contraband tobacco, as a final consumption market but also as a transit country to Ireland and the United Kingdom, according to customs which noted for 2025 an increase of 24.5% in the volumes of cigarettes seized, and a total of 547.94 tonnes of tobacco intercepted (cigarettes, chewing tobacco, hookah, cigars, etc.).
