Friday, Jul 24, 2026 The claims desk. Receipts included. POWERED BY LENZ ↗
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HEALTH

The Claim

More than 35% of people in Bulgaria smoke tobacco.

Verified by Lenz ·

The Short Version

The best available evidence indicates Bulgaria’s smoking prevalence is above 35% if “smoke tobacco” means current smoking, including non-daily smokers. Several authoritative sources put current smoking around 36-37%, while lower figures near 29% refer to daily cigarette smoking only. The claim is directionally accurate but imprecise about the metric and population measured.

Caveats

  • Daily smoking and current smoking are different measures; Bulgaria is below 35% on the daily-smoking metric but above it on broader current-smoking estimates.
  • Most official prevalence figures refer to adults, not literally all people in Bulgaria, so the wording is broader than the underlying data.
  • Some secondary or social-media sources are weak; the stronger support comes from Eurostat/EHIS-style current-smoking data, not from unsourced visuals.

The Receipts

  1. Tobacco Control Fact Sheet - Bulgaria

    World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe

  2. 18.4% of EU population smoked daily in 2019

    European Commission / Eurostat

  3. [hlth_ehis_sk3e] Daily smokers of cigarettes by sex, age and educational attainment level

    Eurostat

  4. Smoking: Health at a Glance 2023 - OECD

    OECD

  5. Bulgaria: Country Health Profile 2023 (EN)

    OECD

  6. Tobacco consumption statistics

    Eurostat

  7. Bulgaria | Tobacco Atlas

    Tobacco Atlas

  8. Country Cancer Profile 2025: Bulgaria

    European Commission / OECD (JRC)

  9. Tobacco smoking in Bulgaria

    Global State of Tobacco Harm Reduction (GSTHR)

  10. Eurostat Report: EU Consumption Highest in Bulgaria - Tobacco Asia

    Tobacco Asia (reporting Eurostat)

+ 15 more sources — see the full list on Lenz

Filed Under

Bulgaria

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