Activists of the country's growing anti-smoking movement welcomed the tobacco price increase. According to experts from the World Health Organization, such an aggressive price increase should force many French people to give up cigarettes. Traditionally, people in France smoke a lot. At the same time, according to official statistics, 60,000 people die each year in the country from the effects of tobacco smoking. Worldwide, that number is five million.
A new step in the fight against smoking will be taken in France and the European Union as a whole in October of this year, when legislation requiring special anti-tobacco advertising on cigarette packs comes into force. It includes a detailed explanation of the harms of tobacco, as well as naturalistic images demonstrating the effects of smoking on human internal organs.