Snus tobacco on the rise as Norway smoking halved in a decade

[January 18, 2018] OSLO (Reuters) - The share of Norwegians who smoke on a daily basis has halved in the last decade and was last year exceeded for the first time by the use of snus, a wet snuff tobacco product, Statistics Norway said on Thursday.

Among the adult population, 11 percent were daily smokers in 2017, a fall of one percentage point from the previous year and down from 22 percent in 2007 as authorities continue to campaign against the use of tobacco.

The use of snus rose to 12 percent in 2017 from 10 percent in 2016. Data was not available for 2007.

Late last year, snus maker Swedish Match lost a court case it had filed against Norway's government over new restrictions on product packaging.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik; editing by Niklas Pollard)

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