Smoking Facts & Figures

Tobacco was introduced to Europe from the New World at the end of the fifteenth century. Smoking spread rapidly and was long regarded as having medicinal value.

It was not until the 20th century, however, that smoking became a mass habit and not until after the Second World War that the dangers of smoking were firmly established.

About 12 million adults in the UK smoke cigarettes - 27% of men and 25% of women. In 1974, 51% of men and 41% of women smoked cigarettes - nearly half the adult population of the UK. Now just over one-quarter smoke, but the decline in recent years has been heavily concentrated in older age groups: i.e., almost as many young people are taking up smoking but more established smokers are quitting.

Adult smoking rates vary between different parts of the country. In the North West, 28% of people smoke and in the East of England 27% smoke. In Scotland, 28% of the population smokes, in Wales 27% and in Northern Ireland prevalence is 27%.

Smoking is highest among those aged 20-34: 38% of men and women in this age group smoke. Among older age groups prevalence gradually declines with the lowest smoking rate among people aged 60 and over: 15% smoke in this age group.

More than 80% of smokers take up the habit as teenagers.

In the United Kingdom about 450 children start smoking every day.

Almost a quarter of Britain's 15 year-olds - 18% of boys and 26% of girls - are regular smokers - despite the fact that it is illegal to sell cigarettes to children aged under 16.

Men and women in the unskilled manual socio-economic group are more likely to smoke than people in the professional group. 20% of men and 18% of women in the professional group smoke compared with 32% of men and 31% of women in the unskilled manual group.

People do give up - 21% of women and 27% of men are ex-smokers. Surveys show that about 70% of current smokers would like to give up altogether.

Tobacco is the only legally available consumer product which kills people when it is used entirely as intended.

Every year, around 114,000 smokers in the UK die as a result of their habit.

Smoking kills around six times more people in the UK than road traffic accidents (3,439), other accidents (8,579), poisoning and overdose (3157), murder and manslaughter (513), suicide (4,066), and HIV infection (234) all put together (22,833 in total - 2002 figures).

About half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their addiction.

Smoking causes thirty per cent of all cancer deaths (including at least 84% of lung cancer deaths), 17% of all heart disease deaths and at least 80% of deaths from bronchitis and emphysema.

Polls show that people underestimate the health risks of smoking and the effects of passive smoking. It is estimated that several hundred cases of lung cancer and several thousand cases of heart disease in non-smokers in the UK are caused by passive smoking - breathing other people's tobacco smoke.

The UK government earned £8.055 Billion in revenue from tobacco duty and VAT in 2002-2003.

The highest recorded level of smoking among men was 82% in 1948, when surveys started. Overall prevalence among adults (aged 16 and over) fell steadily between the mid 1970s and the mid 1990s, faster among men than women, until there was effectively no difference between the sexes (N. Wald, UK Smoking Statistics, 1991).

	Men	Women	All
1974	51	41	45
1978	45	37	40
1982	38	33	35
1986	35	31	33
1990	31	29	30
1994	28	26	27
1996	29	28	28
1998	28	26	27
2000	29	25	27
2001	28	26	27
2002	27	25	26
2003	26	22	24
2004	23	23	23

For further facts and figures on smoking and tobacco use visit:

Ash Fact Sheets
Action on Smoking and Health fact sheets covering a wide range of topics on smoking and tobacco. Department of Health Statistics