Smoking Profile

Introduction

The smoking profiles provides information of the extent of:

  • tobacco use
  • tobacco related harm
  • measures being taken to reduce this harm at a local level

The aim of these profiles is to assess the effect of tobacco use on local populations. Local government and health services can use this information to inform commissioning and planning decisions to tackle tobacco use and improve the health of local communities.

The tool allows users to compare a local authority against other local authorities in the region and benchmark a local authority against the England or regional average.

What’s new in the tool for December 2025?

December 2025 includes revised back trend data for indicators based on the 3 year APS for 2019 to 2021, 2020 to 2022 and 2021 to 2023.

November 2025 includes new data for: smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) – current smokers (APS); smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) – ex-smokers (APS); smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) – never smokers (APS); smoking prevalence among adults aged 18 to 64 in routine and manual occupations (APS); odds of smoking among adults aged 18 to 64 with a routine and manual occupation compared with those in other occupations (APS); smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) - current smokers (GPPS); smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) - ex smoker (GPPS); smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) - never smoked (GPPS); smoking prevalence in adults with a long-term mental health condition (aged 18 and over) - current smokers (GPPS); odds of smoking with a long-term mental health condition compared to the odds of smoking without (GPPS); proportion of local smoking population who set a quit date; proportion of those setting a quit date who successfully quit smoking; proportion of local smoking population who successfully quit smoking; cost per smoking quitter. Following ONS revisions to the source data, indicators based on single year APS between 2020 and 2023 have been revised. Indicators based on the 3 year APS for 2020 to 2022 and 2021 to 2023 will be revised at a future Fingertips update.

October 2025 includes 3 indicators of smoking quitters: 1) Proportion of local smoking population who set a quit date, 2) Proportion of those setting a quit date who successfully quit smoking and 3) Proportion of local population who successfully quit smoking.  This gives a more complete summary of stop smoking services activity, and to make clear the differences between the indicators the names and metadata of related indicators in the 'smoking quitters' domain have been updated.  All 3 indicators include data up to 2023/24.

September 2025 includes changes to the units and metadata of indicators in the 'smoking quitters' domain.  Similar data have previously been published by NHS England so this release does not contain a new year of data. 

February 2025 includes the following new indicators, available at England level and regional level where available: regular e-cigarette users (15 year olds); have ever used e-cigarettes (15 year olds). New data has been added for: smoking prevalence, regular smokers (15 year olds); smoking prevalence, occasional smokers (15 year olds).

October 2024 includes new data for: smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) – current smokers (APS); smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) – ex-smokers (APS); smoking prevalence in adults (aged 18 and over) – never smokers (APS); smoking prevalence among adults aged 18 to 64 in routine and manual occupations (APS); odds of smoking among adults aged 18 to 64 with a routine and manual occupation (APS); emergency hospital admissions for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (aged 35 and over); mortality from oral cancer.

Impact of updated mid-year population estimates on Fingertips indicators.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released 2021 mid-year population estimates, based on the results of the 2021 Census. They are not comparable with estimates for previous years. Rebased estimates for 2012 to 2020 will be published in due course. Indicators which use mid-year population estimates as their denominators are affected by this change. If an indicator has been updated to 2021, the non-comparable historical data are not available through Fingertips or in the API but are made available in csv format through a link in the indicator metadata. Comparable back series data will be added once the rebased populations are available.