The burden of smoking is considerable

Globally, 1.3 billion people use tobacco. Of these, tobacco use kills more than 8 million people worldwide every year ¹

Across the UK in 2022, 6.4 million people aged 18 or over smoked cigarettes. This equates to 12.9% of the UK population. The proportion of current smokers is highest in people aged between 25 and 34 years²

Smoking and its effects place a considerable pressure on the NHS. In 2019/2020, 506,100 hospital admissions were estimated to be attributable to smoking, this represented 4% of all hospital admissions during this period ³

Over 20% of all hospital in-patients are smokers ⁵

For an individual smoker, smoking causes cardiovascular and respiratory disease and a range of cancers, whilst also increasing the risks of type 2 diabetes, eye disease, osteoporosis, and dementia ⁵

Smoking cessation is a priority within the UK

In 2019, the Government published the Green Paper on preventative health “Advancing our Health: Prevention in the 2020s”, which included the aim for England to become ‘smoke-free’ by 2030⁶

Smoking is closely related to health inequalities. The NHS Long Term Plan sets out plans to narrow health inequalities, including specific programmes to cut smoking ⁷

“The Khan Review, Making Smoking Obsolete” published in 2022 by the Office for Health Improvement and Disparities, stated that England will “miss the smoke-free 2030 target by at least 7 years with the poorest areas not meeting it until 2044” without further action⁸

References

World Health Organization. Tobacco Factsheet. Available at https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/tobacco. Accessed November 2023.
Office for National Statistics. Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2022. Available at https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/ healthandsocialcare/ healthandlifeexpectancies/bulletins/
adultsmokinghabitsingreatbritain202 2 #:~ :text=Across% 20the%20UK%2C %2014.6%25%20of,with% 20any%20other%20age%20group. Accessed November 2023.
NHS Digital. Statistics on Smoking, England 2020. Available at https://digital.nhs.uk/ data-and-information/publications/statistical/statistics-on- smoking/statistics-on-smoking-england-2020/part-1-smoking-related-ill-health-and-mortality. Accessed November 2023.
BTS National smoking cessation audit 2021. Available at https://www.brit-thoracic.org.uk/quality-improvement/clinical-audit/bts-national-audit- reports/. Accessed November 2023.
Office for Health Improvement and Disparities. Smoking and tobacco: applying All Our Health. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/smoking-and-tobacco-applying-all-our-health/smoking-and-tobacco- applying-all-our-health. Accessed November 2023.
House of Commons Library. The smokefree 2030 ambition for England. Available at https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/ cbp-9655/. Accessed November 2023
The NHS Long term Plan. Available at https://www.longtermplan.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/ nhs-long-term-plan-version-1.2.pdf. Accessed November 2023.
Khan J. The Khan review. Making smoking obsolete. Independent review into smokefree 2030 policies. Available at https://www.gov.uk/government/ publications/the-khan-review-making-smoking-obsolete. Accessed November 2023.