epidemiology

Last edited 06/2021 and last reviewed 06/2021

• there are about 10 million adults who smoke cigarettes in Great Britain:
  
  
  • about a sixth of the total UK population
    
    
  • in Great Britain 22 % of adult men and 19 % of adult women are smokers
    
    
  • among men smoking prevalence is highest in the 25 - 34 age group ( 32 % )
    
    
  • among women, smoking is highest among 20 - 24 year olds (29%)

In 1974, 51% of men and 41% of women smoked cigarettes - nearly half the adult population

Ex-smokers

• 22 % of women and 27 % of men are now ex - smokers

Surveys show that about two - thirds of current smokers would like to stop smoking.

More than half (59 %) of all adults report that they have never smoked.

Smoking in young adults (3)

Reitsma et al modelled two indicators:

• prevalence of current smoking tobacco use among young adults aged 15-24 years
• age at which current smokers aged 20-54 years in 2019 began smoking regularly
• synthesised data from 3625 nationally representative surveys on prevalence of smoking and 254 on age at initiation

Study results:

• globally in 2019
  • an estimated 155 million (95% uncertainty interval 150-160) individuals aged 15-24 years were tobacco smokers
    • with a prevalence of 20.1% (19.4-20.8) among males and 4.95% (4.64-5.29) among females
  • estimated that:
    • 82.6% (82.1-83.1) of current smokers initiated between ages 14 and 25 years
    • 18.5% (17.7-19.3) of smokers began smoking regularly by age 15 years
• although some countries have made substantial progress in reducing the prevalence of smoking tobacco use among young people, prevalence in 2019 still exceeds 20% among males aged 15-24 years in 120 countries and among females aged 15-24 years in 43 countries

Reference:

• ASH (action on Smoking and Health). Smoking statistics (April 2014).
• Reitsma MB et al. Spatial, temporal, and demographic patterns in prevalence of smoking tobacco use and initiation among young people in 204 countries and territories, 1990-2019. Lancet Public Health 2021 (May 27th 2021)