Cigarette smoking habits among adults in the UK, including how many people smoke, differences between population groups, changes over time and use of e-cigarettes.
Release date : 1 October 2024
Next release : To be announced
Version : Latest
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Contact : Health.data@ons.gov.uk
people smoked cigarettes (aged 18 and above) in the UK in 2023
highest propotion of current smokers (14%)
adults aged 16 years and over uses an e-cigatette daily or occasionally
The Annual Population Survey (APS) gives headline indicators on the number of adults aged 18 years and over who smoke in the UK. In this survey, a smoker is defined as someone who smokes nowadays.
The estimated proportion of people who smoke in the UK has been falling since Annual Population Survey (APS) records began in 2011.
In 2023, 11.9% of adults aged 18 years or over (6.0 million people) were current smokers, according to APS data.
This is a decrease from 2022 (12.9% of the population), although not a statistically significant one. An increase or decrease is statistically significant if it is likely that chance, or the variable nature of the samples, did not cause it. However, this decrease follows a long-term downward trend. The proportion of current smokers has fallen by 8.3 percentage points since 2011 (20.2% of the population).
The APS provides the official measure of smoking prevalence in England. It is used to monitor progress towards the UK government’s target of achieving a smokefree England by 2030, with smoking prevalence at 5% or lower.
In the UK in 2023, as shown in Figure 1, the percentage of adult smokers in:
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