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Published: 15 November 2011

Table 4: Prevalence of cannabis use in the general population — summary of the data

Age group

Time frame of use

Lifetime

Last year

Last month

European estimates are computed from national prevalence estimates weighted by the population of the relevant age group in each country. To obtain estimates of the overall number of users in Europe, the EU average is applied for countries lacking prevalence data (representing not more than 3 % of the target population). Populations used as basis: 15–64, 336 million; 15–34, 132 million; 15–24, 63 million. As European estimates are based on surveys conducted between 2001 and 2009/10 (mainly 2004–08), they do not refer to a single year. The data summarised here are available under General population surveys in the 2011 statistical bulletin.
15–64 years Estimated number of users in Europe 78 million 22.5 million 12 million
European average 23.2 % 6.7 % 3.6 %
Range 1.5–32.5 % 0.4–14.3 % 0.1–7.6 %
Lowest-prevalence countries Romania (1.5 %) 
Malta (3.5 %)
Bulgaria (7.3 %)
Hungary (8.5 %) 		 Romania (0.4 %) 
Malta (0.8 %) 
Greece (1.7 %) 
Hungary (2.3 %)   		 Romania (0.1 %) 
Malta (0.5 %) 
Greece, Poland (0.9 %) 
Sweden (1.0 %)   
Highest-prevalence countries Denmark (32.5 %)
Spain (32.1 %)
Italy (32.0 %)
France, United Kingdom (30.6 %)		 Italy (14.3 %)
Czech Republic (11.1 %)
Spain (10.6 %)
France (8.6 %)

Spain (7.6 %)
Italy (6.9 %)
France (4.8 %)
Czech Republic (4.1 %)
15–34 years Estimated number of users in Europe 42 million 16 million 9 million
European average 32.0 % 12.1 % 6.6 %
Range 2.9–45.5 % 0.9–21.6 % 0.3–14.1 %
Lowest-prevalence countries Romania (2.9 %)
Malta (4.8 %)
Greece (10.8 %)
Bulgaria (14.3 %)		 Romania (0.9 %)
Malta (1.9 %)
Greece (3.2 %)
Poland (5.3 %)		 Romania (0.3 %)
Greece (1.5 %)
Poland (1.9 %)
Sweden, Norway (2.1 %)
Highest-prevalence countries Czech Republic (45.5 %)
Denmark (44.5 %)
France (43.6 %)
Spain (42.4 %)		 Czech Republic (21.6 %)
Italy (20.3 %)
Spain (19.4 %)
France (16.7 %)

Spain (14.1 %)
Italy (9.9 %)
France (9.8 %)
Czech Republic (8.6 %)
15–24 years Estimated number of users in Europe 19 million 9.5 million 5 million
European average 30.0 % 15.2 % 8.0 %
Range 3.7–53.8 % 1.5–29.5 % 0.5–17.2 %
Lowest-prevalence countries Romania (3.7 %)
Malta (4.9 %)
Greece (9.0 %)
Cyprus (14.4 %)		 Romania (1.5 %)
Greece (3.6 %)
Portugal (6.6 %)
Slovenia, Sweden (7.3 %)		 Romania (0.5 %)
Greece (1.2 %)
Sweden (2.2 %)
Norway (2.3 %)
Highest-prevalence countries Czech Republic (53.8 %)
France (42.0 %)
Spain (39.1 %)
Denmark (38.0 %)		 Czech Republic (29.5 %)
Spain (23.9 %)
Italy (22.3 %)
France (21.7 %)		 Spain (17.2 %)
France (12.7 %)
Czech Republic (11.6 %)
Italy (11.0 %)

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The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) is the reference point on drugs and drug addiction information in Europe. Inaugurated in Lisbon in 1995, it is one of the EU’s decentralised agencies. Read more >>

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