Out of puff: UK becomes of the most successful nationals in Europe for cutting down on smoking

December 19, 2016

A new survey shows only 18.9 per cent of men in the UK are smokers
Only 18.5 per cent of women still smoke, down from 25.7 per cent in early 2000s
Women were more likely to smoke than contemporaries over a decade ago
Sweden is the only country with a lower proportion of smokers

Steve Doughty Social Affairs Correspondent For The Daily Mail

Published:
17:17 EST, 16 December 2016

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Updated:
02:48 EST, 19 December 2016

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The UK has become one of the most successful nations in Europe at reducing the number of cigarette smokers.

New estimates across the continent show that only Sweden has a lower proportion of smokers.

The fall in the UK is largely a result of collapsing numbers of women smokers.

The figures show only 17.3 per cent of the UK population over the age of 15 were smokers – higher than the 16.7 per cent in Sweden but unmatched in the rest of the countries surveyed, which include the 28 EU nations plus Norway and Turkey.

Estimates say just 15.8 per cent of women in the UK are smokers, down from 25.7 per cent when the same survey was carried out at the start of the 2000s

Just 15.8 per cent of women in the UK were smokers, down from 25.7 per cent when the same survey was carried out at the start of the 2000s.

A decade and a half ago, women in Britain were more likely to smoke tobacco than their contemporaries in a string of European countries, including France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Italy and Spain. Now there is a lower percentage of female smokers only in Romania, Lithuania and Portugal.

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The overall figure for the UK was higher because 18.9 per cent of men are still smokers, although this was still better than all other countries besides Sweden.

The figures for 2014 – the latest available – were produced by the European Health Interview Survey, run by the EU statistics arm Eurostat. It was conducted among nearly 200,000 people, including 13,000 in the UK.

Amanda Sandford, of the pressure group Action on Smoking and Health, said Britain may have done more than other countries to reduce levels of smoking but ‘we are looking for a new plan from ministers because if nothing happens the figures may creep up again’.