The Evolution of Smoking in Switzerland

Abstract

This chapter describes patterns of life-course smoking behavior of seven cohorts of Swiss men and women who were born in the first 9 decades of the twentieth century. I briefly review the history of tobacco cultivation and consumption in Switzerland to provide context within which it is easier to understand patterns of consumption of different cohorts. Governments, farmers, and firms collaborated to promote tobacco through the middle of the twentieth century. Starting in the 1950s the Swiss government ended regulatory protection of tobacco and began to regulate the consumption and marketing of cigarettes. Social norms about the behavior of women and smokers also shifted. Rates of smoking among Swiss men has remained high across different cohorts, among women, the peak prevalence rate steadily increased from the oldest cohort to the cohort that was born in the 1950s. Among cohorts of women born after 1959, the peak smoking prevalence rate steadily declined. However, even in younger cohorts, smoking prevalence remains higher among men than among women.