The law defines that individuals born on or after 1 January 2007 will never be legally allowed to purchase, use, or be sold tobacco products in the Maldives. The Maldives’ generational tobacco ban is the latest step in the country’s long-standing campaign against smoking, which also includes a strict prohibition on electronic cigarettes.
In late 2024, the Maldivian government banned the import, possession, use, manufacture, and sale of all vaping products, applying the restriction to people of all ages.
The ban came into force on Saturday(November 1) across the archipelago, a move the Ministry of Health hailed as a historic milestone in safeguarding public health and fostering a tobacco-free generation. This made the Maldives the first country in the world to enforce a nationwide generational tobacco ban.
According to the World Health Organization, smoking claims over seven million lives worldwide each year. In the Maldives, a 2021 national survey found that more than one-quarter of adults aged 15 to 69 used tobacco, while the prevalence among teenagers aged 13 to 15 was nearly twice as high.
For comparison, around 20 percent of adults in the United States smoked in 2022, while nearly 12 percent of adults in the United Kingdom were smokers in 2023. Similar generational tobacco laws have been discussed, and almost implemented, in other countries. In 2022, New Zealand came close to enacting a world-first ban that would have prohibited the sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009.However, the ban, initially scheduled to take effect in 2024, never materialized. Just a year after the bill’s passage, it was repealed to help fund tax cuts, a move that angered public health officials and anti-tobacco advocates.In recent years, the United Kingdom saw similar bills proposed, but none passed. A new version is now progressing through Parliament, aiming to ban tobacco sales for anyone born on or after January 1, 2009, while also tightening regulations on the sale of tobacco and vaping products.
Authorities are aiming to reduce smoking throughout the island, planning to establish anti-smoking clinics that provide medication and support to help residents quit tobacco. Earlier this summer, the president even suggested offering cash rewards to communities on islands that successfully become smoke-free.
