Generational smoking ban

Tobacco-free generation policies or generational smoking bans are bans on selling combustible cigarettes to people born after a certain year. Part of tobacco control or tobacco endgame, apart from the Maldives they only ban sales of combustible tobacco products, such as cigarettes which burn not ecigs.

The Maldives was the first country to do so, followed by the UK. And other places, such as Turkey, Canada and parts of the United States, are considering such a smoke-free generation policy. The EU cannot do so as a bloc because health policy is decided by individual countries, such as Ireland.

Aim and impact

A typical aim is to reduce the proportion of adults and teenagers who smoke to under 5% of the population.

History

In Australia a tobacco-free generation was proposed by Ivan Dean in 2014, without success. It would have prohibited the sale of tobacco products to anyone born after 2000. In New Zealand, a law was passed in 2022 and then repealed in 2024 (never enforced). The Smokefree Environments and Regulated Products (Smoked Tobacco) Amendment Act 2022 would have prohibited the sale of tobacco to anyone born after 2008.

Countries

Country Year law took effect Affects people born after Notes Ref
Maldives 2025 2006 vaping also banned
United Kingdom 2027 2008
  1. 1 2 3 "Maldives becomes the only country with generational smoking ban". The Guardian. 2025-11-01. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  2. 1 2 "UK moves to ban smoking for everyone born after 2008". dw.com. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  3. ↑ Ruth Malone; Tim McAfee (19 June 2024). "Birthdate-based commercial tobacco sales restrictions: will 'tobacco-free generation' policies advance or delay the endgame". Tobacco Control. doi:10.1136/tc-2024-058716. PMID 38897727. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  4. ↑ Mihaltan, Florin Dumitru; Constantin, Ancuţa-Alina (2026-06-30). "Smoke—free generation or tobacco endgame: How far have we come?". Pneumologia. 75 (1). Romanian Society of Pneumology: 64–67. doi:10.2478/pneum-2026-0009. ISSN 2247-059X.
  5. ↑ Bonita, Ruth; Beaglehole, Robert (2026-08-15). "Beyond a smoke-free generation: ending smoking within a generation". The Lancet. 408 (10555). Elsevier: 585–587. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(26)01129-3. ISSN 0140-6736. PMID 42285118.
  6. ↑ "UK moves to ban smoking for everyone born after 2008". dw.com. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  7. ↑ AA (2026-09-24). "Kanun hazırlığı: Ömür boyu sigara yasağı yolda". www.cumhuriyet.com.tr (in Turkish). Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  8. ↑ "Implementing a smoke-free generation policy for Canada: estimates of the long-term impacts, HPCDP: Vol 45(1), January 2025". www.canada.ca. 2025-01-15. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  9. ↑ "More Tobacco Bans Coming In California And Massachusetts". Cigar Aficionado. Retrieved 2026-04-21.
  10. ↑ "Can the EU ban smoking? Commission rewrites next generation rules". euronews. 2026-08-18. Retrieved 2026-09-01.
  11. ↑ Pepper, Diarmuid (2026-09-22). "Fianna Fáil TD to table bill to ban sale of vapes and cigarettes to anyone born after 2009". TheJournal.ie. Retrieved 2026-09-27.
  12. ↑ Davies, Nathan; Murray, Rachael; Morling, Joanne R; Bains, Manpreet; Jones, Matthew; Langley, Tessa Elisabeth (2026-02-10). "Impact of the UK's smokefree generation policy on tobacco-related equity in England: a simulation study". Tobacco Control: tc–2025-059669. doi:10.1136/tc-2025-059669. ISSN 0964-4563.
  13. ↑ "Tasmanian proposal aims for tobacco free generation". ABC. Retrieved 26 February 2022.
  14. ↑ Syed, Armani (2023-11-27). "New Zealand Scraps Generational Smoking Ban". TIME. Retrieved 2023-12-01.
  15. ↑ "New Zealand set to scrap world-first tobacco ban". Reuters. 2024-02-27. Retrieved 2024-11-13.
  16. ↑ "New Zealand passes legislation banning cigarettes for future generations". BBC News. 2022-12-13. Archived from the original on 2022-12-13. Retrieved 2022-12-13.
  17. ↑ "New Zealand passes world-first tobacco law to ban smoking for next generation". the Guardian. 2022-12-13. Archived from the original on 2022-12-16. Retrieved 2022-12-17.