Israel’s adult smoking rate has remained virtually unchanged for nearly a decade despite government efforts to reduce tobacco use, while growing numbers of children and teens are experimenting with e-cigarettes, according to the Health Ministry’s annual smoking report released Thursday.
The Health Ministry submits the report to the Knesset each year, as required by law. It found that roughly 23% of Israeli adults smoke, a figure that has remained largely unchanged despite years of anti-smoking campaigns.
“About half of smokers will die prematurely because of smoking,” Prof. Sigal Sadetzki, head of the Health Ministry’s Public Health Services Division, wrote in the report.
Researchers who reviewed 2022 mortality data found that roughly 12,386 deaths in Israel that year—about 23% of all deaths—could be attributed to active or passive smoking, meaning nearly one in four deaths was linked to tobacco use. That works out to an average of 33 deaths a day, the report found, marking an increase over a similar study conducted in 2014.
Smoking rates varied sharply by community. Among Israeli-Arab men, the smoking rate stood at 46.2%, more than triple the 13.0% rate among Israeli-Arab women. Among the Jewish population, 27.5% of men and 15.7% of women smoked. The Haredi, or strictly Orthodox, Jewish community had a notably lower smoking rate of 10.6%, compared to 23.8% among non-Haredi Jews. Exposure to secondhand smoke was also widespread. Some 28.9% of the Jewish population and 48.5% of the Israeli-Arab population reported exposure to smoke from someone else’s cigarette.
The report flagged youth use of e-cigarettes and nicotine pouches as a growing concern. A 2025 international survey found that about 19% of Israeli students had tried conventional cigarettes, about 20% had tried e-cigarettes and roughly 16% had smoked a water pipe. Water pipes are commonly known in Israel as nargilas.
The report noted a rise since 2023 in the share of eighth- and 10th-grade students who had tried cigarettes, and said the average age at which children first experiment with smoking products continues to fall, with many trying one as early as fifth or sixth grade. Among Israeli-Arab children, a quarter said they had tried a smoking product before age 10, compared to 9% of Jewish children.
E-cigarettes a ‘gateway product’ for youth
Health Minister Haim Katz, in his foreword to the report, described e-cigarettes as a “gateway product” drawing a new generation into long-term nicotine addiction.
“These are addictive and very dangerous products,” Katz wrote, adding that the ministry was committing resources to prevent children and teens from starting to smoke.
Katz’s warning echoed broader global concerns. Citing World Health Organization estimates, the report said about 15 million teens aged 13 to 15 worldwide are regular e-cigarette users and that roughly one in three will go on to become regular tobacco smokers. Worldwide, more than 8 million people die each year from smoking-related causes, the report said.
The report also touched on smoking within the Israel Defense Forces, noting that 22.5% of new conscripts answered “yes” when asked about smoking during their 2025 induction screening, a slight increase over 2024.
On the regulatory side, 2025 saw the completion of new rules requiring graphic health warnings on the packaging of all smoking products, including cigarettes, e-cigarettes and water pipes, along with quit-smoking hotline information, in addition to existing text warnings. The regulations entered into force in July 2025, with manufacturers required to comply by August 2026.
The report said the move puts Israel among the first countries in the world to require graphic warnings on smoking accessories and one of the few to require text health warnings on every category of smoking product.
