New legislation in the UK, external, taking affect in the new year, will permanently ban the legal sale of tobacco to anyone born on or after January 1, 2009 to create a “smoke-free” generation.
Hazel Cheeseman, from the charity Action on Smoking and Health, said the latest statics showed encouraging progress in cutting smoking rates.
She added: “Smoking has fallen enormously over recent decades, but it remains the biggest driver of preventable death in the UK. Now is the time to finish the job.”
According to the ONS, men were more likely to smoke than women in 2025, similar to previous years.
And people aged 45-54 had the highest proportion of current smokers (12.4%).
Young adults aged 18 to 24 years have seen the largest drop in smoking among all age groups.
Of the people who currently smoked in 2025, half said they intended to quit. Some 7.2% of people reported having used an e-cigarette, up from 6.6% in 2024.
Kruti Shrotri from Cancer Research UK said: “While a continued fall in smoking rates is encouraging, tobacco remains the leading cause of cancer in the UK.
“Although we don’t know the long-term risks of vaping, evidence so far shows that legal vapes are less harmful than tobacco and an effective tool to stop smoking.”
The vaping data includes people aged 16 and over in Great Britain, while the smoking statistics cover adults in the whole of the UK.
