I am struck by some of the cultural differences between the United States and France, or I should say, to be more specific, Paris.

I am on a two-week holiday in Paris and am absorbing some wonderful and some not so wonderful experiences.

Frankly I am shocked by the amount of smoking that goes on in Paris.  It seems that everyone smokes.  But of course not everyone does, but it seems that way.  I think the reason is two fold.

One, eating is such an important part of daily life in Paris.  There are eating establishments galore.  Every street and every neighborhood is sprinkled with cafés, brasseries, patisseries, restaurants – someplace that you can sit down and have a drink of some sort along with something to eat, whether it be a full meal or just a croissant. Almost all of these eating establishments have outdoor seating.  Small tables with chairs that reach out into the sidewalk.  This is so Parisian.

In Paris you are not allowed to smoke inside but you can smoke outside.  So, what happens is that everyone who wants to smoke sits in the chairs that are “outside” the eating establishment.  So, when you are walking – and Parisians do a lot of walking – along the street all you see at each eating establishment are people sitting outside and smoking.

When you walk by you cannot help but see and smell the smoke that emanates from all the people sitting just a foot or two away from you on the sidewalk.

In addition, the smokers at the tables outside of the eating establishments seem to smoke at all times during their stay.  they light up when they arrive.  They smoke when they are finished eating.  They smoke while they nurture their wine.  And they even smoke at times during the meal.

The second reason that it is a little shocking to me is the prevalence of smoking in younger teens.

When I say I am shocked by this, I really am.  It is as if Parisians did not get the message, the scientific discovery, that smoking is bad for your health.  In fact, smoking can kill you.  I ask myself, where have they been.  Or are they tone deaf.

In trying to understand this reality – namely that Parisians smoke a lot – I have done some research.  Yes, smoking prevalence in France is about twice what it is in America.  Roughly, depending on whose data you look at, about 33% or one third of adults in France smoke regularly.  It is one of the highest rates in the world.

What is even more disturbing is that the prevalence of smoking with teens aged 15-19 in France has actually increased dramatically over the last five or so years.  Jumping from 23% to 30%.  Even worse for teenage females, jumping from 19% to almost 28%.  The average age for beginning experimentation with cigarettes is 13 and a half in France.

This is happening even though all cigarette packaging in France now has “fumer tue” (smoking kills) warnings on each pack.

Having said this, there is some good news.  there are less French people smoking today than there were five years ago.  It is trending in the right direction, with the exception of the youth as noted above. And the amount of smoking that French smokers do each year is significantly less than their smoker counterparts in the United States.  A typical American smoker will smoke 5,711 cigarettes in a year, but the typical French smoker will only smoke 2,847 cigarettes in a year.

Nevertheless, France has the reputation as the chimney of Europe.  Why?

As I mentioned earlier, they smoke more conspicuously than Americans.  By having some many outside cafes and by people walking so much, the smoking is more visible.

Their café culture, born in the 60s, has spurred this.

Another reason could be that drinking makes people want to smoke more.  And Parisians like to have a glass of wine.

Smoking in Paris is viewed as cool, especially during the teenage years.  It is in fashion to smoke in Paris.  It is not cool to smoke in the United States.

Another possible reason is that smoking suppresses appetites.  Parisians are strikingly slim.  You see very few overweight or fat people in Paris.  While eating is very important in Paris, their portions are smaller and they tend not to snack between meals.

I admit that I am searching for reasons why there are twice as many people in France that smoke regularly than there are in the USA.

Sigmund Freud might say that smoking responds to the urge to have something in your mouth.  It is an oral fixation.  Smoking is an adult pacifier.  Why this might be more prevalent in France than the US, I don’t know.

Another possible reason is that Parisians are stressed.  Viewed by some, smoking can be a reliever of stress.

Some argue that the increase in immigrants to France is a reason for a portion of the national smoking numbers.  Immigrants from North Africa, sub Sahara Africa and the Middle East, who are less educated and are lower income earners have a higher rate of smoking prevalence than France as a whole.

Another possible reason is that the French don’t like to be told what to do.  They are very strong on traditions.

Finally, I would offer that Parisians really value the pace that they live their daily lives.  Their pace is slower.  They value the time when they are not rushed.  They value their time at a meal.  It is not unusual to spend two hours having lunch.  Smoking is also a way to slow down the pace.

To give you an example of what I am talking about, last night I had a meal at a café along one of Paris’ many wonderful streets.  I sat outside so that I could take in the street scene.  I did so even knowing that I was putting myself in harms way, if you will.  Anyone sitting on either side of me could and probably would light up a cigarette at any time during my meal.  Nevertheless, I did it just to be able to see and experience the outdoor street and sidewalk goings on.

And of course the people on both sides of me in fact did light up several times during my meal.  But what I did not expect was what happened with my waiter.

My waiter at one point took my order, but before he even transmitted the order to the kitchen, I see him stop, take a chair from inside the café, carry it outside, sit down and light up a cigarette.  I could not believe it.  here he was in the middle of his job – in fact, in the middle of serving a customer (me) – and he stops everything to take a break to smoke a cigarette in clear view of all the customers and passers by.  Holy cow!