Inequalities in smoking prevalence
About 2 mins
Key Points
- In all UK countries, the percentage of adults who smoke is higher in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas.
- Across the UK, the percentage of adults who smoke is lowest among people aged 18–24 and those aged 65 and over.
- Across the UK, the percentage of adults who smoke varies by ethnicity, with rates in some ethnic groups more than double those in others.
Smoking is a major cause of preventable ill health and death in the UK. Smoking causes harm to nearly every organ in the body and increases the risk of developing a wide range of health conditions including lung cancer and cardiovascular disease.
This chart shows the percentage of adults who smoke in the UK in 2024, by age, region, deprivation, ethnicity, and sex.
- The percentage of adults who smoke is highest between 25 and 64 years, varying by age group from 11.7% to 12.6%, compared to 8.1% for adults aged 18–24 and 7.1% for 65+ years.
- Men are more likely to smoke than women (12.3% compared to 9%).
- There are differences in smoking prevalence between ethnic groups, with 13.8% of people from mixed and 12.7% of people from other ethnic backgrounds smoking, compared to 4.9% of people from a Chinese background.
- There are differences in smoking prevalence across areas of the UK. Yorkshire and the Humber and Scotland have the highest percentage of adults who smoke (around 12%), while the South East has the lowest (9.4%).
- The percentage of adults who smoke is higher in the most deprived areas compared to the least deprived areas in all countries. In Northern Ireland, the percentage of adults who smoke in the most deprived areas was over four times higher than adults in the least deprived areas.
- Data presented for age, country/region, ethnicity and sex are weighted estimates the Annual Population Survey, an ongoing survey of households in the UK. A smoker is defined as some who responds ‘yes’ to the survey question ‘Do you smoke cigarettes at all nowadays?’
- Adults refers to people aged 18 and over for sex and location breakdowns.
- Data for deprivation: for England and Wales are also weighted estimates from the annual population survey; Scotland, are weighted estimates from the Scottish Health Survey; and for Northern Ireland are weighted estimated from the Health Survey Northern Ireland.
- Deprivation is separated by country as each country has its own deprivation index. Data for England cover the 18+ population in 2022–24, data for Scotland cover the 16+ population in 2024, data for Wales cover the 18+ population in 2021 and data for Northern Ireland cover the 16+ population in 2024/25.
- Ethnicity groups are based on those given in the data.
Source: Office for National Statistics, Smoking habits in the UK and its constituent countries, UK, 2024; Office for Health Improvement & Disparities, Fingertips, England, 2022–24; Office for National Statistics, Deprivation and the impact on smoking prevalence, England and Wales: 2017 to 2021; Scottish Government, Scottish Health Survey, 2024; Health Survey Northern Ireland 2024/25.
