A new report from Cancer Research UK shows that cigarette sales are on the decline, smoking rates are falling steadily, and public health agencies credit vaping as a major factor. About 15.5 percent of Britons now smoke, down from 17.2 percent two years ago. What’s more, smoking rates among 18-24 year olds fell from 26 percent in 2010 to 19 percent in 2016 and are still falling.
According to a press conference on September 21, Cancer Research UK also said that the rate of people quitting smoking in the past ten years has increased dramatically. In the first six months of 2017, 19.8 percent of those surveyed successfully quit smoking compared to 15.7 percent 10 years ago. And according to the agency's spokesperson, this is mainly due to the popularity of e-cigarettes.
“Research has shown that e-cigarettes are the most popular method for quitting smoking. Evidence shows they are safer than smoking and have helped many people beat the habit.”
- George Butterworth, Tobacco Policy Manager, Cancer Research UK -
In fact, the rate of British people quitting smoking is at record levels, giving the UK the second lowest smoking rate in Europe. Sweden is still at the top. When interviewed by the Guardian, a PHE spokesman boasted that half a million Britons had quit smoking in the past two years alone.
“It’s hard to believe that in 1974 more than half the adult population smoked. But now we really have the opportunity to eliminate all the harm and death caused by tobacco.”
- Duncan Selbie, chief executive of PHE -
The basis for these statistics comes from scientific research conducted by two professors, Jamie Brown and Robert West of the University of London. The study, titled “Successful smoking cessation rates in the UK from 2007 to 2017,” was published on the Smoking in Britain website.
The news of the UK smoking rate comes alongside another important study by the US anti-tobacco group ASH in Washington. On 8 May 2017, ASH published research showing that for the first time in history, the rate of vapers in the UK is higher than that of smokers.
Source: Matt Rowland - Vapes.com
Translated by: The Vape Club
