One in four smokers have quit since 2011, new data reveals

One in four smokers in Britain have quit since 2011, data suggests.

According to the Office for National Statistics, 15.1% of the adult population smoked last year, down from 20.2% in 2011.

The drop of around a quarter equates to roughly 2 million people, taking the number of people who smoke to 7.4 million.

The data also suggested that young adults are increasingly spurning cigarettes, with the largest reduction in smoking since 2011 among 18 to 24-year-olds.

Last year 17.8% of people in the age bracket said they were smokers, compared to 25.7% in 2011.

The ONS report on adult smoking habits in the UK said: “The latest figure represents a significant reduction in the proportion of current smokers since 2016, when 15.8% smoked.”

Public Health England (PHE) said the figures – which also show a rise in the number of people using electronic cigarettes or e-cigarettes – showed that the nation is “winning the war on tobacco”.

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Chief executive Duncan Selbie said: “Smoking rates have dropped by almost a quarter in five years, a triumphant step in eliminating the nation’s biggest killer. The data shows we are winning the war on tobacco and that we are tantalisingly close to creating the first-ever smoke-free generation in England.

“But that war will only be won if we make more progress in helping people from deprived areas and people suffering from poor mental health, where we know smoking rates remain stubbornly high.”

According to the data, smoking rates were highest among people aged 25 to 34 with almost one in five (19.7%) of people in this age group classing themselves as current smokers.

Across Britain more men smoke than women (17% in 2017 compared to 13.3%), and the rate of smoking was higher in Northern Ireland compared to the rest of the UK – 14.9% of adults in England smoked; for Wales, this figure was 16.1%; Scotland, 16.3% and Northern Ireland, 16.5%.