The number of young people in the Czech Republic who smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol or use cannabis products is continuing to decline, according to the results of the Czech part of the 8th European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD).
Last year, nearly 3,000 16-year-old students in the Czech Republic took part in the survey, which indicated that consumption of these substances among young people was lower than 30 years ago when their use began to rise, at a level similar to the mid-1990s.
However, there is a growing proportion of adolescents who are using alternative nicotine products, drinking at risky levels, and taking psychoactive drugs. Czech teenagers also feel worse off than their European peers.
The first ESPAD survey was carried out in 1995. The Czech Republic has participated in all eight surveys. In 2024, the survey investigated 37 countries.
The latest survey showed that about one-fifth of 16-year-olds in the Czech Republic had smoked a cigarette in the previous month, while in 1995, it was one-third, with the figure subsequently rising to 45% and remaining above 40% until 2011. Last year, 6% of students said they smoked a cigarette every day, and 1.4% smoked more than 11 cigarettes per day.
56% of Czech teenagers said they had drunk alcohol in the past month; six years ago, this figure was 63%, and in 2015, 69%. Between 1999 and 2011, more than three-quarters of young people drank alcohol in the previous month. Last year, 17% of 16-year-olds admitted drinking too much alcohol and 15% said they had got drunk in the past month. After a decline in 2011, these figures have been slowly increasing since 2015.
One-quarter of teenagers have tried cannabis. Between 2003 and 2011, this figure was almost half of the teenagers surveyed.
Czech young people feel worse off than before. Before the coronavirus pandemic, 18% reported poor mental health, compared to 23% last year.
5% of adolescents take sedatives, hypnotics or anxiolytics on prescription from a doctor on a long-term basis, and another 5% take antidepressants. 23% of 16-year-olds have tried to combine psychoactive drugs with alcohol at least once, and 12% have tried it repeatedly.
