Smoking

In 1974, almost half of adults in Great Britain (46%) smoked cigarettes. By 2025, fewer than 1 in 10 did (8.7%).

This decline has been steady over the past five decades, but accelerated over the past decade.

Official estimates from a larger survey from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) are that 9.8% of adults in the UK smoked in 2025. That's down from 20% in 2011.

Men are a bit more likely to smoke than women.

Smoking has fallen in every age group. In 1974, around half of adults aged 25 to 59 smoked. Now, about 1 in 10 do.

The biggest change in recent years has been among young adults. In 2011, 26% of people aged 18 to 24 in the UK smoked. By 2025, it was 7%, the joint-lowest with people aged 65 and over.

Smoking is now most common among people aged 45 to 54.

The chart below shows a rise among 16 to 24 year olds in 2025, from 8.2% to 10.5%. That is unlikely to be a real increase. The figures come from a survey of fewer than 2,000 people in that age group each year. The ONS's larger official survey, with around 9,000 people aged 18 to 24, shows smoking among young adults continued to fall in 2025, from 8.1% to 7.2%.

Smoking has fallen in all four nations.

In 2025, 11.4% of adults in Scotland and 11.1% in Wales smoked, compared with 9.9% in Northern Ireland and 9.5% in England.

The map shows the share of adults in each local authority who smoked in the five years from 2021 to 2025.

This varies from just 4% to 5% in the lowest areas, to 19% in places such as Fenland, and Blackpool.

Smoking among secondary school pupils in England has almost disappeared.

In 1982, 11% of pupils aged 11 to 15 smoked regularly, and more than half (53%) had tried smoking. In 2023, 1.2% smoked regularly, and 11% had ever smoked.

The change is clearest among 15 year olds. In 1996, 30% of them smoked regularly. In 2023, just 2.2% did.

Many more pupils now vape than smoke. In 2023, 8.7% of pupils aged 11 to 15 in England vaped, compared with 3.3% who smoked tobacco.

Girls are more likely to vape than boys: 10.5% of girls compared with 6.5% of boys in 2023.

In 2025, 10% of adults in Great Britain vaped, up from 3.7% in 2014. About two-thirds of them vape every day.

Vaping is most common among younger adults: 16% of people aged 25 to 34 and 13% of those aged 16 to 24 vaped in 2025, compared with 5% of people aged 60 and over.

Vaping among 16 to 24 year olds rose sharply from 2021, as cheap disposable vapes became popular, peaking at 16% in 2022 and 2023. The sale of disposable vapes was banned across the UK in June 2025.

Most adults who vape don't smoke. In 2025, about half of vapers (52%) were ex-smokers, and 29% also smoked cigarettes.

A growing share of vapers have never smoked: 19% in 2025, up from 3% in 2014. That is about 1 in 50 adults (2%).

The UK now has one of the lowest rates of tobacco use among high-income countries.

According to WHO estimates, 13% of adults aged 15 and over in the UK used tobacco in 2024, down from 38% in 2000. Of 29 high-income countries, only Australia, Canada, New Zealand and Iceland had lower rates.

The UK's fall, by two-thirds, was the fourth-largest of these countries, after Norway, Iceland and New Zealand. Tobacco use is much more common in France, Greece, Portugal, Czechia and Spain.

Smoking is measured by asking people whether they smoke cigarettes, even occasionally. It counts manufactured and hand-rolled cigarettes, but not cigars, pipes, or vapes. Figures are based on what people say, so they may understate smoking slightly.

The long-run figures for Great Britain come from three ONS surveys that followed one another: the General Household Survey (from 1974), the General Lifestyle Survey and the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey. Until 1998, the survey ran every two years and its figures weren't weighted to match the population; since 2000, it has run every year and been weighted. The survey moved from face-to-face interviews to online and telephone interviews between 2018 and 2020. These figures cover people aged 16 and over.

The official figures for the UK, its nations and local authorities come from the Annual Population Survey, which asks around 140,000 adults aged 18 and over a year. In 2020, it moved to telephone interviews only, which may have affected estimates. Local estimates rest on a few hundred interviews a year, so ONS averages them over five years, and even then some are uncertain.

Young people's smoking and vaping come from NHS England's survey of Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People, in which secondary school pupils in Years 7 to 11 (mostly aged 11 to 15) fill in a questionnaire privately at school. It runs every two years. Regular smokers and vapers smoke or vape at least once a week; current smokers and vapers include those who do so occasionally. The latest published survey is from 2023.

Vaping is measured by asking people whether they currently use an e-cigarette or vaping device, daily or occasionally. The questions changed in 2018 and 2020, but ONS considers the share of current vapers comparable over time.

International comparisons use the World Health Organization's estimates of tobacco use, which cover all tobacco products (including smokeless tobacco such as snus, but not vapes) among people aged 15 and over, adjusted for differences in age structure. WHO models them from national surveys, so they differ from countries' own figures, and recent years are partly projections.

The split between smoking and vaping is worked out from the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey: the share of adults who smoke, used to smoke, or have never smoked, and the share of each group who vape. Ex-smokers are people who used to smoke regularly; people who have never smoked may have tried a cigarette.