An estimated 15.5% of adults were smoking in England in 2016, down from 19.9% in 2010. Just under 11% of pregnant mothers were recorded as smokers at the time of delivery in 2016-17, down from 15% in 2006-07.7

Smoking levels are higher in Scotland. The Scottish Health Survey 2015 reported 23% of adults in the 16-64 years age group were smokers.8 The British Heart Foundation says that the estimated 7.3m adult smokers in England “are almost twice as likely to have a heart attack compared with people who have never smoked and about half of all regular smokers will eventually be killed by their habit.”9

Across the UK, smoking results in around 96,000 deaths annually.10 In the latest NHS Digital statistics, 79,000 deaths in England involved smoking in 2015. This represented 16% of all deaths, and 32% were deaths due to conditions often caused by smoking.7