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Britain kicks the habit: Fewer than 1 in 5 people are still smokers and more than half have never even tried it

  • Just 19% of people in Great Britain smoke, down from 46% in 2014 
  • Unemployed people, least qualified and low earners more likely to smoke
  • Married people and older people are all less likely to be cigarette smokers

By

Matt Chorley, Political Editor for MailOnline


Published:
12:16 EST, 25 November 2014

|
Updated:
12:17 EST, 25 November 2014

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Fewer than one in five people are now smokers, the lowest level since records began.

The proportion of people lighting up has more than halved since the 1970s, as Britain kicks the habit.

And despite the rise in popularity of e-cigarettes, they are most popular with people who are still smokers instead of those who have given up.

The proportion of people who smoke in Britain has more than halved from 46 per cent in 1974 to 19 per cent in 2013

According to the Office for National Statistics found that fewer people have taken up smoking and more of those who did smoke have since quit.

In 2013 just 19 per cent of people in Britain were smokers, the first time it has fallen below 20 per cent and more than half the 46 per cent in 1974.

The ONS said: ‘Unemployed people, those with more routine jobs, lower levels of educational achievement and lower incomes were more likely to be cigarette smokers than others.

‘Married people, those with high levels of academic achievement and older people were all less likely to be cigarette smokers than others.’

Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in Britain, accounting for 80,000 deaths in England each year alone.

Smoking related illnesses are said to cost the NHS more than £5billion-a-year.

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One in 20 people under-35 admitted to hospital in 2011-12 had problems linked to smoking.

In the last 40 years the proportion of people who have never smoked has risen sharply, from 37 per cent to 58 per cent.

The increase was most striking among men, aged 50-59 where the proportion who had never smoked more than tripled from 17 per cent to 55 per cent.

At the same time the proportion of cigarette smokers who had quit doubled between 1974 and 2013, from 27 per cent to 54 per cent.

In recent years, e-cigarettes have emerged as a high profile alternative to smoking, marketed as a way to kick the habit.

But the data shows that they are most popular amongst people who still smoke.

More than 1 in 10 (12 per cent) of cigarette smokers also used e-cigarettes, compared with 1 in 20 (5 per cent) ex-smokers and almost none of those who had never smoked.

The ONS said: ‘E-cigarettes were found to be used mainly as smoking cessation aids and for the perceived health benefits (compared with smoking tobacco).

‘Over half of e-cigarette users said that their main reason for using e-cigarettes was to stop smoking, and about one in five said the main reason for their use was because they thought they were less harmful than cigarettes.’

 

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