Our hotspot for smokers is revealed

Tameside tops poll of adult smokers

- DAVID DUBAS-FISHER, JOSEPH TIMAN

DESPITE government efforts to stamp out smoking, one in four people still regularly enjoy a cigarette in some parts of the UK.

There were around six million adult smokers in the UK in 2023, according to the latest official figures, which works out at around one in nine people (11.9 per cent). That's down from 20.2 per cent of adults in 2011, the earliest year for which figures are available.

The fall has been even larger among 18 to 24-year-olds, going from 25.7 per cent in 2011 to 9.8 per cent last year. But while smoking may be on the decline, the use of e-cigarettes is on the rise rise particularly amongst young people, with one in six 16 to 24-year-olds vaping.