By Alexander Pracht
Tobacco smoking is deeply ingrained in the South Caucasus, and Armenia is no exception, with various studies estimating that 22.5% of the country’s adult population are smokers. However, the distribution of tobacco use is far from even, as smoking has traditionally been seen as a male practice in the region, while women who smoke often face social stigma. As a result, nearly half of Armenian men, 49.3 percent, are smokers, a figure that remains strikingly high.
According to the Tobacco Atlas, a global initiative of the World Health Organization (WHO), 16.2% of all deaths in Armenia are attributed to tobacco use. Although smoking rates have declined in the country since the early 2000s, Armenia continues to fall significantly behind the global trend of reducing tobacco consumption.
What is Armenia’s tobacco policy?
For many years, smoking in Armenia was largely unrestricted, with people able to smoke virtually anywhere, including on public transportation. However, this situation began to shift after the 2018 revolution, with Nikol Pashinyan’s government spending efforts to change tobacco policy in the country. In 2023, Pashinyan stated that the “government must make smokers’ lives as uncomfortable as possible” in an effort to curb tobacco use. Armenia has gradually implemented bans on smoking in all indoor public spaces, including bars and restaurants, and prohibited tobacco advertising.
In a move to further combat tobacco use, Hakob Arshakyan, Armenia’s parliamentary vice speaker, recently proposed raising the legal age for buying cigarettes and other tobacco products from 18 to 21. Arshakyan argued that many young men begin smoking during compulsory military service, a habit he views as a serious problem. He also suggested banning families of conscripts from providing them with cigarettes.
Despite the legal age for purchasing tobacco being set at 18, enforcement remains a challenge. Underage boys and girls often find ways to access cigarettes, with the law being overlooked in many cases.
How does Armenia compare to other countries?
Armenia’s smoking prevalence has declined from 32% in 2000 to 22.5% in 2025. However, the global trend over the past 25 years shows a much steeper decline in many countries. For example, Germany saw its smoking rate drop from 37% to 18%, while Norway experienced an even sharper decrease from 44% to just 14%, according to the Global Health Observatory Data Repository and the Tobacco Atlas. Meanwhile, Germany’s population grew from about 82 million in 2000 to over 84 million in 2025, and Norway’s population increased from 4.5 million to nearly 5.6 million. In contrast, Armenia’s population declined from approximately 3.2 million in 2000 to roughly 3 million in 2025, meaning the absolute number of smokers in the country has decreased much less than in these European nations.
Armenia’s decline in smoking prevalence is relatively favorable compared to some other post-Soviet countries. In Georgia and Moldova, smoking remains widespread, with little progress in reducing prevalence over the years. Both countries continue to face challenges in enforcing tobacco control measures, and smoking is still deeply embedded in social norms, particularly among men.
Conversely, Uzbekistan has achieved a significant decline in smoking prevalence, dropping from 25% in 2000 to just 10.6% in 2025. However, this reduction may be partially offset by the increased use of smokeless tobacco products like naswar, which are far more prevalent in Central Asia than in the South Caucasus.
In the Baltics, Estonia has seen its smoking prevalence halve from a staggering 46% in 2000 to 23% in 2025. Similarly, Poland’s smoking rate declined from 40% to 23% over the same period, a success attributed to comprehensive tobacco control policies implemented after joining the European Union. These measures included public smoking bans, advertising restrictions, and increased taxation on tobacco products.
Greece also experienced a dramatic reduction in smoking rates, from a shocking 55% in 2000 to 29.6% in 2025. This success is largely due to stringent anti-smoking legislation and public health campaigns aimed at reducing tobacco consumption.
Among Armenia’s immediate neighbors, Iran has made remarkable progress in reducing smoking rates, dropping from 21.4% in 2000 to just 9.5% in 2025. Azerbaijan’s decline follows a trajectory similar to Armenia’s, decreasing from 28.7% to 19.1%, though its smoking prevalence has historically been slightly lower. Meanwhile, Turkey has shown minimal improvement, with smoking rates barely changing from 32.9% in 2000 to 30.7% in 2025, indicating limited success in tobacco control efforts.
Armenia’s tobacco production
Armenia has a well-developed tobacco industry, with numerous local cigarette brands that are often preferred by smokers over imported alternatives. Despite increasing restrictions and prohibitions on smoking, tobacco production in the country continues to grow steadily. According to the country’s Statistical Committee, cigarette production in Armenia increased by 23% in 2023, reaching a record high for at least the last decade.
Tobacco production accounts for 6.4% of Armenia’s total industrial output, highlighting its economic importance. The primary export markets for Armenian cigarettes include Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Russia, and Georgia.
What can Armenia do to boost smoking decline?
To accelerate the decline in smoking rates, Armenia could look to countries like Estonia, Poland, and Greece, which have successfully reduced tobacco use through comprehensive policies. Stricter regulations, better enforcement of bans on sales to minors, and well-funded anti-tobacco media campaigns could all contribute to further progress. However, the most effective measure remains raising excise taxes on tobacco products, which has consistently been the primary tool for reducing smoking worldwide.
Another potential strategy is harm reduction. The Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction initiative considers snus, a smokeless, pouched tobacco product native to Sweden, a significantly safer alternative to combustible cigarettes. Norway, one of the most successful countries in reducing smoking rates, has achieved much of its progress by smokers switching to snus. However, this alternative has been banned in Armenia since 2020, following similar restrictions in Russia, due to concerns about high rates of snus use among minors.
Despite the government’s verbal discontent with smoking, it appears that not enough is being done to encourage citizens to quit. Measures like those previously implemented in New Zealand, which aimed to ban cigarette sales to future generations, may be too drastic for Armenia, a country with a deep-rooted culture of enjoying coffee and cigarettes. However, the pace at which tobacco use in the country is declining indicates that the authorities’ current approach may be lenient, suggesting a need for more decisive action to effectively reduce smoking rates.
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