Substance use among 16-year-olds in France has fallen sharply over the past decade, according to findings from the 2024 European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD). The data showed a steep decline in daily cigarette smoking and cannabis experimentation, placing France among Europe’s leading countries in youth prevention. Alcohol consumption remains common but continues to decline.

ESPAD 2024 surveyed 113,882 students aged 15-16 years across 37 European countries, including 25 EU member states. The report marked the eighth wave of data collection since the project began in 1995 and was the first to be conducted after the COVID pandemic, implying a gap or delay between the previous wave (pre-pandemic) and this one.

Substance Use Trends

In France, daily cigarette smoking among 16-year-olds dropped to about 3.1% in 2024 from roughly 16% in 2015, placing France among countries with the lowest rates at this age. The prevalence of heavy binge drinking has decreased from 31% to 22%.

Across Europe, lifetime alcohol consumption averages 73%, monthly alcohol consumption averages 42%, and heavy binge drinking averages 31%, showing broad declines but continued national variation. Alcohol is the most frequently used substance among adolescents.

Tobacco Trends

Smoking rates among European adolescents have steadily decreased since 2003. Daily smoking among 16-year-olds now averages less than 7% across Europe, and France is among the ten countries mainly in Northern Europe, where the rate has fallen to less than 5%. 

Health experts credit stronger tobacco taxes, advertising bans, and limited retail access for this decline.

The most striking trend has been the sharp rise in e-cigarette use, nonmedical pharmaceutical drug use, problematic social media, online gaming, and gambling behaviors. Lifetime vaping among European teenagers was 44%, with 22% reporting use in the past 30 days. In France, 16% have tried e-cigarettes and 5.8% use them daily.

Alcohol Patterns

Alcohol remains the most frequently consumed substance among adolescents in Europe, with more than 70% of teens in two thirds of the participating countries reporting lifetime use. In France, alcohol use continues to decline, and heavy binge drinking decreased from 31% in 2015 to 22% in 2024.

Cannabis Decline

Cannabis remains the most commonly used illicit drug among European adolescents, but its consumption is trending downward. Rates have fallen markedly across nearly all Western and Northern European countries, reflected in both lifetime and current prevalence and reduced perceptions of ease of access. Lifetime consumption averages 12%, and monthly consumption averages 5%.

France recorded one of the largest declines, with only 8% of teens reporting lifetime use in 2024 compared with 31% in 2015. The monthly consumption was over 4%. 

Experimentation with other illicit drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, and amphetamines, remains rare, reported by about 4% of French adolescents and less than 5% in this age group.

However, significant geographical disparities persist. Several Eastern European and Balkan countries reported stable or slight increases in cannabis and other illicit drug use, whereas Nordic countries continued to report the lowest consumption levels.

Europe Variation

​​The ESPAD data highlight wide variations across the continents. Central Europe reported higher overall drug use, whereas Balkan countries showed higher ​​smoking rates. Northern and Eastern Europe reported modest increases in non-cannabis illicit drug use, in contrast to the decline in Western Europe. The report described this as “fragmented Europe,” underscoring the need for tailored national prevention strategies.

Differences in policies, enforcement, and social norms have contributed to these uneven patterns. While alcohol and cannabis use vary widely, tobacco indicators continue to converge downward, with more countries achieving daily smoking rates less than 5% at age 16.

Wider Context

The 2025 Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health, which analyzed data and trends across global, regional, national, and local levels, found that while tobacco and alcohol use is declining, new behavioral risks, including vaping, misuse of prescription drugs, and digital overexposure, are rising. The commission called for integrated prevention strategies that link substance-use reduction with mental health support and digital wellbeing. 

These findings align with the ESPAD data, showing that falling tobacco consumption may also contribute to reduced cannabis consumption as both behaviors often co-occur.

Building on the 2016 Lancet Commission on Adolescent Health and Wellbeing, this second report provides an evidence-based roadmap for action now and in the period following the 2030 deadline for the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. It proposes an expanded framework and a set of indicators to guide accountable cross-sectoral policies, and aims to catalyze progress in adolescent health worldwide in an era of rapid social and technological change.

This story was translated from Univadis France.