Tobacco Consumption
- 30.9% of Russian adults (age 15+) use tobacco (men 50.9%; women 14.3%), nearly all of whom smoke cigarettes.1
- 0.4% of adults use smokeless tobacco and 2.8% smoke waterpipe tobacco.
- About 17% of boys and 10% of girls (age 15) smoke in the Russian Federation. 2 30% of these boys and 22% of these girl smokers report starting at age 13 or younger.
Secondhand Smoke Exposure
- 21.9% of adults who work indoors are exposed to secondhand smoke at the workplace, 19.9% of adults are exposed in restaurants, and 10.8% on public transportation. 1
- 89% of youth (age 13–15) are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places and 76% of youth are exposed to secondhand smoke at home. 3
Health Consequences
- Nearly 329,000 Russians die each year from tobacco-related causes.4
- Nearly 30% of all male deaths and over 6% of all female deaths in the Russian Federation are tobacco-related (nearly 18% of deaths overall).4
- Approximately 75% of tracheal, bronchus and lung cancer mortality, 53% of COPD mortality, and 25% of ischemic heart disease deaths are related to tobacco in the Russian Federation.4
Tobacco Industry
International tobacco companies dominate the Russian Federation’s cigarette market. Japan Tobacco Inc is the cigarette market leader, holding 38.8% of the cigarette market share by volume in 2018, though Philip Morris International, British American Tobacco, and Imperial Tobacco Group also have a presence. About 236.5 billion cigarettes were sold in the Russian Federation in 2018.5
FCTC Status
The Russian Federation ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) on June 3, 2008.
Tobacco Control Policy Status
For a summary of measures on smoke-free places, advertising and promotion, packaging and labeling, and taxation and price, download the Russian Federation Tobacco Control Policy Status fact sheet. For more information visit the Tobacco Control Laws website.
1 Russian Federation Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS) 2016. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2017.
2 Inchley J et al., eds. Growing up unequal: gender and socioeconomic differences in young people’s health and well-being. Health Behavior in School-aged Children (HBSC) study: International Report from the 2013/2014 Survey. Copenhagen: WHO Regional Office for Europe;2016.
3 Russian Federation Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS) 2004. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2009.
4 Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2017. Seattle, WA: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington; 2019.
5 Euromonitor International, 2019.
Last updated July 23, 2020