TBILISI, March 23 – Georgia has cut tobacco use over the past decade, but health advocates say the country is now facing a wave of teenage use of e-cigarettes.
That warning came on Monday from the Tobacco Control Alliance, which said overall smoking prevalence in Georgia remains high at 24.8%. The group also said use of electronic cigarettes and heated tobacco products among adolescents has doubled over the past five years, reaching 14%.
The alliance said Georgia has made real progress in tobacco control. According to the group, tobacco use in the country has fallen by 9% over the last decade, reducing the number of smokers by more than 100,000. It said that progress had helped save thousands of lives and also saved the state budget tens of millions of lari.
But the group warned that these gains are now under pressure.
One of its biggest concerns is the future of smoking cessation services for tuberculosis patients. The alliance said that since 2018, an important program funded by the Global Fund has been operating at the National Center for Tuberculosis and Lung Diseases. As a result, smoking in that patient group fell from 46% in 2015 to 37% in 2025, according to the statement. With the Global Fund leaving the country, however, the future of those services is now unclear, the group said.
The alliance also pointed to weaker enforcement. It said funding for civil monitoring of tobacco legislation was cut by 33% this year. According to the group, that monitoring helps bring in 4 to 5 million lari to the budget every year, but poor enforcement of existing rules, including standardized packaging, cost the country up to 5 million lari last year alone.
At the same time, the group said public information campaigns have been stalled for more than a year, while the tobacco industry has answered with aggressive and illegal online advertising aimed at children and young people. It also said smoking cessation medicines are still subject to VAT and have still not been added to Georgia’s essential medicines list, despite legislative changes launched in 2019.
The alliance called for stronger monitoring across all municipalities, a major public awareness campaign about the dangers of e-cigarettes and newer tobacco products, immediate VAT exemption for smoking cessation treatment, inclusion of those products on the essential medicines list, and state funding from 2027 to preserve cessation services for tuberculosis patients.
