Smoking Rates in the UK
The Slow Victory of Public Health Over the Tobacco Industry

Smoking is the UK's biggest cause of preventable death and 100,000 people die from related diseases every year₁. The health of the nation affects everyone in the long-run₂ - although in 2016/17 tax on cigarettes earned the government £7.6 billion₃, in 2010 statistics showed the total cost to the economy of smoking (including NHS costs) was £13.7 billion₄. 474,000 hospital admissions every year in England are directly due to smoking₃.

But things are moving in the right direction. Since the 1970s, the government has enacted a stream of laws to improve public health: strong restrictions on advertising cigarettes, enforced health warnings on packs, increased costs, banned sports sponsorships and banned smoking in public enclosed spaces._3,5,6. Each of those measures was fought through long legal and PR campaigns by the tobacco industry_5,6. But it is working, and smoking rates in Great Britain have declined from 50% in 1974 to 16% in 2016, and the spectre of childhood smoking has declined to 3%._3,7

In the UK 79% of smokers have tried to quit and failed, and 75% of smokers still want to quit₈, but the addictive nature of the drug makes it difficult, as does the social contexts of its use.

1. UK Smoking Rates Compared to Other Countries
2. Combatting Smoking
3. Smoking Rate from 1974-2016
4. The Broken Culture of Poverty and Poor Decision-Making
5. Further Topics
6. Links

1. UK Smoking Rates Compared to Other Countries₉

#health #life_expectancy #longevity #smoking #UK

One table below shows the UK's position compared to the rest of the world. In general, richer countries smoke (much) more. And so the table below compares the UK to other European countries.

2. Combatting Smoking

#UK

"In the 60s, advertising cigarettes on TV was banned. In the 70s, the government introduced health warnings on packs. In the last 20 years, the battle has intensified"'₅... increasing bans on various forms of advertising and the health warnings on packs got bigger and more gruesome. Sports sponsorship was banned.

In 2007, England followed the example of Eire and other countries, and banned smoking in public enclosed spaces₆; it was the last country in the UK (following Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) to do so₆. The government hoped that a side-effect of cleaner environments would be to help current smokers quit, "and perhaps prevent some people from starting"₆.

“Keeping places smoke free is just one of the public-health measures introduced in the last 50 years to reduce smoking. Others have included restrictions on tobacco advertising, warnings on cigarette packets, raising the age of sale to 18, and increasing the price through taxes. In 2011, the British government announced plans to ban the display of cigarettes in shops, and announced that they were considering a ban on any kind of branding, requiring plain generic packaging instead.”

"Drugs" by David Nutt (2017)₆

These measures and increased have meant that in the ten years since 2006, tobacco has become "27 per cent less affordable"₃.

Every single one of these methods at reducing the harms of smoking have been fiercely resisted by tobacco companies_5,6. But the result is a great improvement in public health.

Some newspaper outlets have claimed that measures such as banning public in enclosed public spaces were "controversial", even though 75% of adults supported the move₆. Some of the same papers have ran campaigns against many public-health measures that aim to reduce the harm done by smoking.

3. Smoking Rate from 1974-2016

Source:₇

4. The Broken Culture of Poverty and Poor Decision-Making

#health #smoking #trash_culture #UK #uk_health

Smoking is intertwined deeply with "trash culture". If you smoke, you are more likely to drink. If you smoke or drink, you are also more likely to do drugs. Such was the conclusion of the 1999 publication from the Office for National Statistics entitled "Smoking, drinking and drug use among young teenagers in 1998". A key factor of trash culture is that it is self-promoting. Once trash habits become accepted, they spread themselves.

Smoking is higher amongst those who are already in trouble: single mothers smoke at 55%, most homeless do and practically 100% of drug addicts do₁₃.

“Today only 15% of men in the highest professional classes smoke, but 42% of unskilled workers do.”

The Economist (2007)₁₃

“As annual income increases prevalence of smoking generally decreases. In 2016 those with an annual income of less than £10,000 were almost twice as likely to smoke as those with an annual income of £40,000 or more.”

"Briefing Paper: Statistics on Smoking" by Lydia Jackson (2017)₃

Amongst young teenagers, "the likelihood of having ever used drugs is strongly related to smoking experience: 63% of regular smokers had used drugs, compared with only 1% of those who had never smoked". With drinking the statistics are also similar and cyclic: 44% of young teenagers who drink also get involved in drugs, compared with only 1% of children who don't drink. And importantly, in case it is doubted that all these factors propagate one another, "virtually no children who had never smoked or drunk had ever used drugs".

Parenting Issues: In 1991 in the UK 16% of 11-15 year-old children smoked, but by 2016 this had fallen to 3% (but still, that's far too many children)₇; they are more likely to smoke if they live with others who do so₃. There has also been improvement in how many mothers remain smokers whilst carrying a baby to term, falling to below 11% in 2016₃.

5. Further Topics

1. The Effects of Smoking on Health
2. Irresponsible Parenting
3. Social Issues
   1. Workplace Politics
   2. The Broken Culture of Poverty and Poor Decision-Making
4. The International Fight Between Public Health and Multinational Tobacco Companies
   1. Money
   2. Evading the Law
   3. Abusing News Outlets With Fake Science and Fake Lobby Groups
5. Smoking Rates in the UK: The Slow Victory of Public Health Over the Tobacco Industry