Smoking statistics - Plain English Summary - Trends in smoking 1

Since then, smoking has continued to decline, albeit at a slower rate.2 The fall in smoking rates is due to a combination of smokers quitting and a growth in the population of people who have never smoked. [...] In 1990, 18% of male smokers and 2% of female smokers said they smoked mainly hand-rolled cigarettes but by 2011 this had risen to 40% and 26% respectively.4 The 2018 Opinions & Lifestyle survey revealed that 40.8% of male and 29.9% of female smokers said they smoked hand-rolled cigarettes.4 This is most likely due to the growing unaffordability of ‘straight’ cigarettes, and that smoking is becomi. [...] Targets to reduce smoking Periodically, the Government sets targets to reduce smoking prevalence in the population.5 6 In July 2019, the Government announced its ambition for a Smokefree 2030 (where the overall percentage of the population who smoke is 5% or below) through its consultation ________________________________________________________________ For more ASH Fact sheets, visit ash.org.uk/r. [...] Its goals included reducing the number of 15 year-olds who smoke regularly from 8% to 3% or below, reducing smoking in adults from 15.5% to 12%, and reducing smoking in pregnancy from 10.7% to 6% or below.8 In March 2011 the Coalition Government launched its Tobacco Control Plan for England in which it set out ambitions to reduce adult smoking prevalence to 18.5% or less by 2015 and to reduce smok. [...] In 2022, 22.5% of adults in the UK in routine and manual occupations smoked compared with 8.3% in managerial and professional occupations.2 Historically there has been a slower decline in smoking among manual groups, resulting in smoking becoming increasingly concentrated in this population.