Statistics on Smoking, England - 2014

Smoking among adults and children

The main source of data for smoking prevalence among adults is the Opinions and Lifestyle, Smoking Habits Amongst Adults Survey 2012 carried out by the Office for National Statistics. The main source of data for smoking prevalence among children is the Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People Survey 2012.

• One in five adults (20 per cent) aged 16 and over were smokers in 2012, a rate that has remained largely unchanged in recent years, compared to just over one in four (26 per cent) a decade earlier in 2002. Unemployed people (39 per cent) (not working but seeking work) were around twice as likely to smoke as those either in employment (21 per cent) or economically inactive (17 per cent) (for example, students or retired people).
  
• Amongst 11 to 15 year olds in 2013, less than a quarter of pupils reported that they had tried smoking at least once. At 22 per cent, this is the lowest level recorded since the data were first collected in 1982, and continues the decline since 2003, when 42 per cent of pupils had tried smoking.

Availability and affordability of tobacco

• The price of tobacco has increased by 80.2 per cent over the last ten years from 2003 to 2013, making it 22.1 per cent less affordable.

Prescribing costs

• The number of prescriptions dispensed in England to help people stop smoking in 2013/14 was 1.8 million, compared to 1.6 million ten years earlier in 2003-4.
  
• In 2013-14 the Net Ingredient Cost (NIC) of all prescription items used to help people quit smoking was nearly £48.8 million. This is a decrease of 16 per cent on the £58.1 million spent in 2012-13 and 26 per cent less than 2010-11 when NIC of all prescription items peaked at £65.9 million.

Hospital admissions in England in 2012-13 among adults aged 35 and over

• In 2012-13 there were approximately 1.6 million admissions for adults aged 35 and over with a primary diagnosis of a disease that can be caused by smoking. This is approximately 4,400 admissions per day on average. The annual number of admissions has been rising steadily since 1996-97, when the number of such admissions was approximately 1.1 million.
  
• Around 460,900 hospital admissions were estimated to be attributable to smoking. This accounts for 4 per cent of all hospital admissions in this age group (35 years and over). It compares to 559,800 admissions in 2004-05 which is a decrease of 18 per cent.
  
• The proportion of admissions attributable to smoking as a percentage of all admissions was greater amongst men (6 per cent) than women (3 per cent).

Deaths in England in 2013 among adults aged 35 and over

• In 2013 around one in six deaths (79,700) of adults aged 35 and over were estimated to be caused by smoking, compared with 81,900 in 2005.