UK’s smoking population at record low

The proportion of smokers among the UK’s adult population has fallen to its lowest level since recording started in the 1940s, according to a story in The Guardian.

Official figures suggest that the habit’s prevalence among over-18s fell from 19.8 per cent during 2012 to 18.7 per cent last year.

Government ministers were said to have welcomed the figures but statisticians were far more cautious, pointing to the different ways in which data have been collected over the years.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) suggest that men (21.1 per cent) are still more likely to smoke than are women (16.5 per cent).

A third of the population claims to be ex-smokers and nearly half claims never to have smoked.

Tobacco industry figures in the 1940s showed well over half of the UK’s over-16s were smokers, with the proportion rising to nearly two-thirds of men.

When the ONS started collating figures in 1974, 45 per cent of the UK’s population smoked, including 52 per cent of men and 41 per cent of women.

The full story is at: http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/oct/07/smoking-falls-lowest-level-uk-recording-started-1940s.