Enfield and Barking and Dagenham have been revealed as the London boroughs with the highest proportion of smokers, although overall the capital has the lowest smoking rates in the country.
According to new data by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), smoking rates in London have been steadily declining. However, no borough has yet met the Government’s smoke-free target of fewer than 5 per cent, which is aims to achieve nationwide by 2030.
London’s more affluent boroughs, such as Kingston upon Thames and Richmond, have a lower percentage of smokers at 8.5 and 6.8 per cent respectively, compared to Enfield and Barking and Dagenham, which both sit around 15 percent.
However, London’s smokers still smoke less cigarettes than anywhere else in Britain, a study by Cancer Research and the University College of London has found.
The new study said smokers in the capital smoke an average of 8.4 cigarettes a day. The national average stands at 10.4 cigarettes, with 5.5 percent of the nation’s smokers chuffing more than 20 a day.
On the other end of the scale, smokers in the Northeast and Scotland smoked the most cigarettes with 11.7 cigarettes per smoker per day.
The study also found that smokers from more deprived backgrounds smoked more on average at 11 a day, in contrast to those in wealthier areas who smoked 9.4 per day.
Nationally, only 11.9 percent of adults smoked in 2023 – the lowest proportion since records began in 2011, according to ONS.
Whilst smoking may look to be on the decline, the average national consumption of cigarettes per smoker per year still stands at 528 cigarettes, totalling 28.6 billion cigarettes per year in the UK.
The figure has raised concerns that England will struggle to meet its smokefree target of 5 percent by 2030, according to Cancer Research, with the charity suggesting the goal may not be achieved until 2039.
Hazel Cheeseman, chief executive of Action on Smoking, has warned that the “staggering figure” of cigarettes smoked in Britain is “a stark reminder of the deadly toll of inaction”, urging the government to prioritise the Tobacco and Vapes Bill after Parliament’s summer recess.
She added: “Every day that passes without this legislation is a day lost in protecting our children from addiction and improving public health.”
Dr Ian Walker, executive director at Cancer Research UK, said the Tobacco and Vapes Bill is “a historic opportunity to help stub out the harms of smoking" but said it is frustrating that the legislation "isn't progressing through Parliament as quickly as it should be".
The legislation which cleared the House of Commons in March will prevent anyone born on or after January 1, 2009 from legally smoking, should it become law. It is set to undergo further scrutiny in the House of Lords.
