Big drop in north rates of smoking

THE Northern Agenda regularly reports the ways in which the North lags behind the rest of the country on health and other measures. But this week there was some much more positive news to report.

- ROB PARSONS

A major University College London study funded by Cancer Research UK and published in Addiction reveals that smoking rates have fallen more quickly in the North of England compared with other regions.

This has helped narrow the big regional gaps in smoking prevalence, meaning rates in the North of England are now as low as in the South (where progress on the issue seems to have 'stalled' in recent years).

The national average for smoking prevalence fell from 25.3% to 16.5% between 2006 and 2024. But in the North it almost halved, dropping from 28.8% to 15.8%.

Rates in the North West went from 28.3% in 2006 to 15.7% in 2024, with rates in Yorkshire and the Humber falling from 30.0% to 16.0%, and 27.4% to 16.0% in the North East in the same period.