Source: Office for National Statistics: Adult smoking habits in Great Britain and E-cigarette use in Great Britain
Notes:
- ‘Current smokers’ includes daily smokers and those who only smoke ‘occasionally’. E-cigarette smokers are defined as those who said they currently use e-cigarettes, a vaping device, or both. Current cigarette smokers and e-cigarette smokers are provided as a proportion of those in the population.
- For cigarette smoking data, estimates for 2004 and 2005 both include the period 1 January 2005 to 31 March 2005 as a result of a change in survey period from a fiscal year to a calendar year. Estimates for 2006 to 2011 include longitudinal data.
- In both 2018 and 2020, the survey question used to measure e-cigarette use changed and the way in which respondents have been categorised also changed. However, data for ‘current e-cigarette users’ are comparable across the entire time series.
- From 20 March 2020 the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN) became weekly, to understand the impact of the coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) on life in Great Britain. As a result of this change, the sample size was significantly increased in 2020. From 25 August 2021, as we moved to a period where COVID-19 restrictions had been lifted across Great Britain, the OPN covered roughly fortnightly periods.
| Key dates | |
|---|---|
| 1962 | Publication: Smoking and Health - Royal College of Physicians This report highlighted the link between smoking and lung cancer, other lung diseases, heart disease and gastrointestinal problems. |
| 1964 | Television Act The Government used the 1964 Television Act to ban commercials from advertising cigarettes. |
| 1971 | Introduction of health warnings on packaging Introduced government warnings onto all cigarette packaging. |
| 2006 | Health Act Banned smoking in enclosed public spaces. |
| 2015 | The Standardised Packaging of Tobacco Products Regulations Legislation which introduced standardised (plain) packaging for tobacco products. |
| 2025 | Single-use vapes ban on 1 June 2025 it became illegal for businesses to sell or supply single-use vapes. |
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