On Smoking - Cultural Differences.

 Here is something that puzzles me. Why there are so many smokers in Luxembourg?

 It is one of the richest countries in the world, which one would think is associated with better education, medical system, overall sense of well-being,  heightened sense of  civility and mutual respect. As a result it should lead to a better understanding of what smoking does to the body and how it affects others, no?

On the contrary, Luxembourg turns out to be the first place in more then a decade of our travels  where I feel bothered by the second-hand smoke. (And, I did smoke in my twenties; my mother used to smoke; my sister still smokes.)  Here people smoke while walking, while talking, while waiting for a bus, while sitting at the outside tables of restaurants and cafes, and while standing on their balconies. At times a person enters a bus or passes you on the street, and it is impossible not to smell embedded smoke on his/her clothes.

Were there fewer smokers in Italy? I don't think so. Why then did smoking become so much more obvious for me here?  Musing on that, I realized that there seems to be a cultural difference in place. In Italy smoking was mostly done as finishing touch after of a cup of coffee or a meal, often accompanied by social interactions. It was a ritual of sort, an active act of pleasure.

 Here it seems to be more of a habitual and/or anti-stress activity.  Which brings back a question: why is it happening in one of the richest countries?