This report presents a range of information on smoking which is drawn together from a variety of sources. The report aims to present a broad picture of health issues relating to smoking in England and covers topics such as smoking prevalence, habits, behaviours and attitudes among adults and school children, smoking-related ill health and mortality and smoking-related costs.

12.7% of adults in England were smokers in 2022, with the highest rate in the mixed ethnic group (17.0%).

This data shows the percentage of adults (age 18 and over) who are current smokers.

Smoking is the single biggest cause of preventable death and illnesses, and big inequalities exist between and within communities. Smoking is a major risk factor for many diseases, such as lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD, bronchitis and emphysema) and heart disease. It is also associated with cancers in other organs.

Smoking is a modifiable lifestyle risk factor. Preventing people from starting smoking is important in reducing the health harms and inequalities.

This data is based on the Office for National Statistics (ONS) Annual Population Survey (APS). The percentage of adults is not age-standardised. In this dataset particularly at district level there may be inherent statistical uncertainty in some data values. Thus as with many other datasets, this data should be used together with other data and resources to obtain a fuller picture.

Data source: Public Health England, Public Health Outcomes Framework (PHOF) indicator 92443 (Number 15). This data is updated annually.

This statistical bulletin presents a range of information on smoking, drawn together from a variety of sources. The topics covered include: hospital admissions and deaths attributable to smoking smoking among adults and school children smoking in pregnancy behaviour and attitudes towards smoking economic costs associated with tobacco The bulletin also summaries government plans and targets in this area.

In England in 2022, 60 percent of men and 68 percent of women said they never regularly smoked cigarettes, while 26 percent of men and 21 percent of women mentioned they used to smoke cigarettes regularly. Smokers broken down by age Across all age groups in England, males have a higher or equal share of smokers compared to females. In 2020, 22 percent of men and 15 percent of women aged between 25 and 34 years were current smokers, this is the highest share of male and female smokers across the age groups. While 11 percent of men aged between 16 and 24 years are classed as current smokers. Dangers of smoking   Almost two million admissions to NHS hospitals in England in the financial year 2019/20 were caused by smoking. The number of admissions as a result of smoking has been creeping upwards since 2000. Consequently, the number of admissions due to cancers caused by smoking in England has increased since the year 2000, reaching around 382 thousand in 2019/20. 

The Local Tobacco Control Profiles data update for July 2018 has been published by Public Health England (PHE).

These profiles have been designed to help local government and health services to assess the effect of tobacco use on their local populations. The data are presented in an interactive tool that allows users to view them in a user-friendly format.

This update contains:

• new smoking prevalence data for 2017
• a new indicator measuring the gap between smoking prevalence in routine and manual and other occupations
• more recent data for lung and oral cancer registrations for 2014 to 2016 and new oesophageal cancer registrations data
• more recent data for smoking related fires and fatalities caused by them for 2016 to 2017
• inequalities breakdowns for all of these indicators

See the attached data to be included document for full details of what’s in this update.

View previous Local Tobacco Control Profiles updates.

This dataset presents the percentage of adults who classify themselves as either regular or occasional smokers, based on responses to the GP Patient Survey (GPPS). It provides a self-reported measure of smoking prevalence across England and is a key indicator of population health and lifestyle behaviours. The data is expressed as a percentage of survey respondents and is used to inform tobacco control strategies and public health planning.

Rationale Smoking is a major risk factor for a wide range of preventable diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, and respiratory conditions. Reducing smoking prevalence is a central goal of public health policy. This indicator helps track progress in reducing tobacco use and supports targeted interventions to reduce smoking rates, particularly in high-prevalence communities.

Numerator The numerator is the number of survey respondents who answered "regular smoker" or "occasional smoker" to the question: "Which of the following best describes your smoking habits?" This data is collected through the GP Patient Survey (GPPS).

Denominator The denominator is the total number of respondents who answered the same question in the GP Patient Survey.

Caveats No specific caveats were noted in the source metadata. However, as this is a self-reported measure, responses may be subject to reporting bias or underreporting of smoking behaviour.

External References Public Health England – Fingertips Tool

Localities ExplainedThis dataset contains data based on either the resident locality or registered locality of the patient, a distinction is made between resident locality and registered locality populations:Resident Locality refers to individuals who live within the defined geographic boundaries of the locality. These boundaries are aligned with official administrative areas such as wards and Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs).Registered Locality refers to individuals who are registered with GP practices that are assigned to a locality based on the Primary Care Network (PCN) they belong to. These assignments are approximate—PCNs are mapped to a locality based on the location of most of their GP surgeries. As a result, locality-registered patients may live outside the locality, sometimes even in different towns or cities.This distinction is important because some health indicators are only available at GP practice level, without information on where patients actually reside. In such cases, data is attributed to the locality based on GP registration, not residential address.

Click here to explore more from the Birmingham and Solihull Integrated Care Partnerships Outcome Framework.

The consultation on the Lifestyles compendia reports has now closed. Please see the related link at the bottom of this page for more information. This statistical report presents a range of information on smoking which is drawn together from a variety of sources. The report aims to present a broad picture of health issues relating to smoking in England and covers topics such as smoking prevalence, habits, behaviours and attitudes among adults and school children, smoking-related ill health and mortality and smoking-related costs. This report contains data and information previously published by the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC), Department of Health, the Office for National Statistics and Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. The report also includes new analyses carried out by the Health and Social Care Information Centre.

This dataset contains a retrospective time-series analysis of seven key public health parameters related to smoking and vaping trends in England from 2011 to 2023. The data was sourced from publicly available records from the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities.The dataset includes time-series records for the following parameters: adult smoking prevalence, youth smoking rates, youth vaping rates, maternal smoking prevalence, smoking-attributable hospital admissions, smoking-attributable mortality, and quit success rates.The data is presented in a structured format suitable for time-series analysis and forecasting. Associated with this dataset are the Python scripts used to apply forecasting models, including Exponential Smoothing (ETS), Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA), and Prophet. These scripts detail the data preparation, model application, and calculation of accuracy metrics (MAPE and MAE), enabling reproducibility of the analysis. The data and code are provided to facilitate further public health research, trend analysis, and model validation by the broader scientific community.

United Kingdom UK: Prevalence of Current Tobacco Use: % of Adults data was reported at 14.200 % in 2022. This records a decrease from the previous number of 14.900 % for 2021. United Kingdom UK: Prevalence of Current Tobacco Use: % of Adults data is updated yearly, averaging 21.700 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2022, with 8 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 37.600 % in 2000 and a record low of 14.200 % in 2022. United Kingdom UK: Prevalence of Current Tobacco Use: % of Adults data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Social: Health Statistics. The percentage of the population ages 15 years and over who currently use any tobacco product (smoked and/or smokeless tobacco) on a daily or non-daily basis. Tobacco products include cigarettes, pipes, cigars, cigarillos, waterpipes (hookah, shisha), bidis, kretek, heated tobacco products, and all forms of smokeless (oral and nasal) tobacco. Tobacco products exclude e-cigarettes (which do not contain tobacco), “e-cigars”, “e-hookahs”, JUUL and “e-pipes”. The rates are age-standardized to the WHO Standard Population.;World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).;Weighted average;This is the Sustainable Development Goal indicator 3.a.1 [https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/]. Previous indicator name: Smoking prevalence, total (ages 15+) The previous indicator excluded smokeless tobacco use, while the current indicator includes. The indicator name and definition were updated in December, 2020.

United Kingdom UK: Smoking Prevalence: Males: % of Adults data was reported at 24.700 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 25.600 % for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Smoking Prevalence: Males: % of Adults data is updated yearly, averaging 27.700 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 38.900 % in 2000 and a record low of 24.700 % in 2016. United Kingdom UK: Smoking Prevalence: Males: % of Adults data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s UK – Table UK.World Bank: Health Statistics. Prevalence of smoking, male is the percentage of men ages 15 and over who currently smoke any tobacco product on a daily or non-daily basis. It excludes smokeless tobacco use. The rates are age-standardized.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

In 2015/16 there were approximately 2.36 million adults admitted to hospital in England due to an illness caused by smoking. By 2022/23 the number of hospital admissions as a result of smoking had increased to approximately 2.54 million, the largest number during the provided time period. Smoking prevalence across age groups in England In England in 2022, 21 percent of men and 15 percent of women aged between 25 and 34 years were current smokers. This is the highest share of male smokers across the age groups, while the age group of 45 to 54 years had the second-largest proportion of female smokers at 18 percent. Situation north of the border In Scotland, the share of regular smokers was quite evenly distributed among all ages, except for those aged over 75 years who were smoking less. In 2023, 16 percent of men and 13 percent of women overall in Scotland were current smokers. 

This dataset contains three smoking related indicators. Rates of self reported four-week smoking quitters Smoking quit rates per 100,000 available from the HNA. - These quarterly reports present provisional results from the monitoring of the NHS Stop Smoking Services (NHS SSS) in England. This report includes information on the number of people setting a quit date and the number who successfully quit at the 4 week follow-up. Data for London presented with England comparator. PCT level data available from NHS. Number of Deaths Attributable to Smoking per 100,000 population by borough Deaths attributable to smoking, directly age-sex standardised rate for persons aged 35 years +. Causes of death considered to be related to smoking are: various cancers, cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and diseases of the digestive system. Numbers of adults smoking by borough Prevalence of smoking among persons aged 18 years and over. - Population who currently smoke, are ex-smokers, or never smoked by borough. This includes cigarette, cigar or pipe smokers. Data by age is also provided for London with a UK comparator. Relevant links: http://www.hscic.gov.uk/Article/1685 http://www.apho.org.uk/default.aspx?QN=HP_DATATABLES

This statistic displays the results of a survey asking individuals in the UK their views on existing and possible government interventions in public health areas as of 2018. Over 70 percent of respondents support the smoking ban in public spaces, while there was the lowest amount of support for introducing a minimum price on alcohol it still was backed by over half of the survey respondents.

United Kingdom UK: Smoking Prevalence: Females: % of Adults data was reported at 20.000 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 20.700 % for 2015. United Kingdom UK: Smoking Prevalence: Females: % of Adults data is updated yearly, averaging 23.400 % from Dec 2000 (Median) to 2016, with 9 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 37.500 % in 2000 and a record low of 20.000 % in 2016. United Kingdom UK: Smoking Prevalence: Females: % of Adults data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United Kingdom – Table UK.World Bank.WDI: Health Statistics. Prevalence of smoking, female is the percentage of women ages 15 and over who currently smoke any tobacco product on a daily or non-daily basis. It excludes smokeless tobacco use. The rates are age-standardized.; ; World Health Organization, Global Health Observatory Data Repository (http://apps.who.int/ghodata/).; Weighted average;

This statistic displays the number of cigarettes smoked in the last week by school children in England, United Kingdom in 2023. In this year, 27 percent of occasional smokers and 23 percent of regular smokers aged between 11 years and 15 years smoked between one and six cigarettes over the last week.

In the period 2024/54, just over six percent of pregnant women in England smoked at the time of delivery. The share of pregnant women smoking has decreased since 2006, when almost sixteen percent of pregnant women did so. Smoking during pregnancy can lead to many birth complications, so it is advised that the expecting mother quit smoking for the health of the baby. Situation north of the borderAs in England, Scotland’s share of pregnant women smoking has been declining, although the prevalence remains higher than those in England. In 2023, 11 percent of pregnant women in Scotland smoked during pregnancy, in the year 2000 this share was at almost 29 percent. Younger mothers more likely to smokeIn both England and Scotland, the prevalence of pregnant smokers increases down the age groups. In England, 21 percent of mothers under 20 smoked while pregnant in 2023/24. While in Scotland in the same year, 27 percent of teenage mothers smoked when pregnant.

This report presents the latest results and trends from the women's smoking status at time of delivery (SATOD) data collection in England. The results provide a measure of the prevalence of smoking among pregnant women at Commissioning Region, Area Team and Clinical Commissioning Group level. This supplements the national information available from the Infant Feeding Survey (IFS). Smoking during pregnancy can cause serious pregnancy-related health problems. These include complications during labour and an increased risk of miscarriage, premature birth, low birth-weight and sudden unexpected death in infancy. Reports in the series prior to 2011-12 quarter 3 are available from the Department of Health website (see below).

This quarterly report presents results from the monitoring of the Local Stop Smoking Services in England during the period April 2024 to March 2025. Local Stop Smoking Services offer support to help people quit smoking. This can include support through one-to-one or group interventions, either in-person or remotely. The support is designed to help smokers to quit in order to reduce health inequalities, particularly in areas where rates of smoking are higher than the general population. The services should be accessible in the local community and are provided by trained personnel, such as specialist smoking cessation advisors, trained clinical staff and pharmacists. This report includes information on the number of people setting a quit date and the number who successfully quit at the 4 week follow-up. It also presents in-depth analyses of the key measures of the service including breakdowns by age, ethnic group, socio-economic classification, type of stop-smoking aids used in the quit attempt, as well as spend on services. The results are provided at national, regional, and local authority levels. Data covering Quarters 1, 2 and 3 are based on re-submitted data.