Major new research by international health experts shows that the United Arab Emirates’ cautious approach to safer nicotine alternatives is hindering its progress in the battle against smoking.
The new Smoke Free Sweden report, Tale of Two Nations: UAE v Sweden, compares the two countries’ approaches to tobacco control and concludes that the UAE could accelerate its progress by integrating tobacco harm reduction alongside its existing anti-smoking measures.
The UAE has already cut its current (daily or occasional) smoking rate from 14.7% of adults in 2019 to 11.1% in 2024, while daily smoking is now around 7%.
By comparison, Sweden had reduced daily adult smoking to 5.3% by 2024, the lowest level in Europe, after decades of combining conventional tobacco control with widespread access to alternatives including snus, nicotine pouches and vapes. It now has the lowest rates of smoking-related disease in the EU.
Report co-author Dr Mohammad Fawzi Katranji, consultant pulmonologist at Sulaiman Habib Hospital Dubai, said: “The UAE has made important progress in reducing smoking through traditional tobacco-control measures. But we should now ask what more can be done to drive smoking rates down further and reduce the continuing burden of smoking-related disease.
“The evidence from Sweden points towards the value of adding harm reduction to the existing approach. Giving adults who smoke greater access to less harmful alternatives can provide another route away from combustible cigarettes.
“While traditional control measures have produced reductions in smoking rates, integrating harm reduction policy alongside the availability of alternative products can help further drive down smoking and reduce the harm caused by traditional cigarettes.”
The report notes that nicotine pouches, vapes and heated tobacco products are permitted in the UAE, but regulation remains cautious. Snus is banned, health claims cannot be made for nicotine pouches and alternative products can face taxation, marketing restrictions and regulatory scrutiny similar to cigarettes.
The report warns that this may inadvertently make it more difficult for adults who smoke to understand and access lower-risk alternatives
Another co-author, Smoke Free Sweden leader Dr Delon Human, said: “The UAE has already demonstrated that it is serious about reducing smoking. The opportunity now is to build on that success rather than accept that the remaining smoking rate is as low as it can go.
“Sweden shows what can happen when safer alternatives are made accessible, affordable and acceptable to adults who smoke. Regulation should reflect the enormous difference in risk between burning tobacco and using a smoke-free nicotine product.”
The report recommends that the UAE establish a coordinated national harm reduction framework, strengthen data collection on switching and product use, align regulation and taxation with relative risk, and improve public information about safer alternatives while maintaining strong protections against underage uptake.
