[mijamo]

I suppose "by some measure" means "by none whatsoever"? Tobacco sales are at lowest point for 50 years, and even occasional usage is close to 50y low.

I remember when you couldn't go anywhere without smelling cold tobacco, even in trains and buses, not even talking about might clubs and restaurants... Now even outside many smokers are considerate and will avoid smoking in your direction, especially when you have kids, which was definitely not the case 20 years ago!

[jeffbee]

But among youth the prevalence of smoking is increasing again, even if they buy less tobacco.

ETA: I guess you are objecting to my "worse than ever" characterization, and you are probably right, but it's shocking to drop into France where youth smoking is visibly more common than it was 15-25 years ago, mother-daughter smoking is a thing, young adult smoking might be only 40-50% but that's hard to differentiate from 100% and it's 10x higher than some other western nations so it seems crazy.