What Finland's plan to be tobacco-free can teach the world

[Guest Nicole]

(CNN)The Finnish government has set an ambitious goal for residents in a bid to benefit their health -- and their bank balances.

Officials plan to make the country tobacco-free by 2040, meaning they want less than 2% of their adults to consume tobacco -- in any form -- by that deadline.

So that's more than 98% of the Finnish population saying no to cigarettes, snuff and other forms of smokeless tobacco, cigars, pipes and even e-cigarettes.

As per the trend in industralized countries, smoking rates in Finland have been on the decline in recent decades due to measures such as bans on advertising and shop displays, and the creation of smoke-free public spaces. In 2013, 16% of 15- to 64-year-olds in Finland smoked on a daily basis, while nearby in the UK, 19% of adults were smokers in 2014.

But at the start of this year, a new level of control measures came into force.

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[Evacuated]

On 1/30/2017 at 1:12 AM, Nicole said:

smoking rates in Finland have been on the decline in recent decades due to measures such as bans on advertising

Interesting logic, especially as some argue that violence in the media does not breed violence in life. ( I agree with tobacco controls by the way).