France bans smoking in parks, beaches and school zones from July

France is banning smoking in areas where young people socialize including beaches, parks and sports facilities from July 1 to clamp down on the harmful habit and make it less attractive. 

The ban, which extends to bus stops, gardens and areas close to schools, is intended to “denormalize tobacco and limit its attractiveness,” the French health ministry said Friday. The fine for smoking in such areas will reach €135.

The move comes as data shows smoking is at a “historically low level” in France and tobacco sales fell more than 11.5 percent last year. Nonetheless, tobacco consumption still kills 75,000 people each year, equivalent to 200 deaths per day in the country. The health costs amount to €150 billion per year.

“Where there are children, tobacco must disappear,” French Minister of Health and Family Catherine Vautrin told Ouest-France on Thursday, adding that the freedom to smoke “ends where children’s right to breathe fresh air begins.” 

Today, 90 percent of smokers start before the age of 18. In 2023, nearly 16 percent of 17-year-olds in France said they smoked daily. With the brain still developing at that age, early smoking increases the risk of addiction and long-term health issues. “We must stop the factory of early smokers: at 17, we build our future, not our addiction,” the ministry said. 

Smoking will still be allowed on café terraces and e-cigarettes are exempt from the new ban.

Currently, no decision has been made on banning cigarette sales to people under 18, but Vautrin said she is “not ruling anything out for the future.” Asked about a possible tax hike on tobacco, Vautrin said that no new increases are planned for now. 

Some municipalities have already introduced local bans, but the new rules will apply nationwide from July.

“By making smoke-free areas more widespread and tackling the normalization of tobacco use from an early age, we are sending a clear message: breathing smoke-free air is a right, not a privilege,” said Yannick Neuder, minister delegate for health and access to care, in the press release.

Additionally, the government is restricting nicotine levels in tobacco and vaping products to make them less addictive, and introducing strict limits on vape flavors, often designed to tempt young people. These measures will come into effect by mid-2026. Vautrin said the government needs “scientific and technical opinions to establish the details.”

The changes are part of the National Tobacco Control Program 2023-2027. The French measures also align with the European Commission’s Beating Cancer Plan, which aims to create a “tobacco-free generation” by 2040 — defined as having less than 5 percent of the population using tobacco.

Tobacco’s fall, vape’s rise 

According to a report from the French Observatory on Drugs and Addictive Behaviors (OFDT) released Friday, fewer than one in four adults aged 18 to 75 smokes daily. Smoking continues to decline among young people too.

However, vaping is on the rise, especially among young people.

In 2022, 6 percent of 17-year-olds vaped daily — twice as many as in 2014. And while cigarettes and rolling tobacco sales declined by 12 and 13 percent from 2023 to 2024, respectively, sales of other tobacco products rose overall by 2 percent.  

Sales and reimbursements for nicotine replacement therapies, as well as the use of smoking cessation support services, increased between 2023 and 2024. “These trends point to a growing interest in quitting smoking, supported by public policies combining price hikes, cessation support, and the creation of smoke-free environments,” the authors of the report said. 

Total tobacco revenue in France excluding its overseas territories reached €19.3 billion in 2024, with an average annual growth rate of 0.9 percent since 2017.

“The numbers are improving, but they remain too high,” Vautrin said in a press release, adding the goal is clear: a tobacco-free generation. “We have the means to achieve it. Protecting young people, preventing addiction, de-normalizing consumption — this is a commitment, a responsibility, an absolute priority.”

This story has been updated.