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1. Main facts and figures
- in 2018, 14.4% of adults in England smoked
- the percentage of adults who smoked was higher than average in the Mixed (20.4%) and White (15.0%) ethnic groups
- the percentage of adults who smoked was lower than average in the Chinese (7.7%), Asian (9.1%) and Black (11.0%) ethnic groups
- from 2012 to 2018, the percentage of White and Asian smokers fell from 20.1% to 15.0%, and from 10.8% to 9.1%
- the percentage of smokers also fell in the other ethnic groups, but due to the small numbers of people surveyed, we can't be confident about how their trends have changed
2. Things you need to know
What the data measures
This data measures the percentage of adults in England who said they were smokers at the time they were surveyed, by ethnicity.
Percentages have been rounded to 1 decimal point.
The ethnic groups used in the data
Data is shown for the following aggregated ethnic groups:
- Asian
- Black
- Chinese
- Mixed
- White
- Other
This is because the number of people surveyed was too small to make any reliable generalisations about specific ethnic groups.
There is a separate category for people whose ethnicity was not known – this was 0.1% of people in 2018.
Methodology
Read the detailed methodology document for the data on this page.
It’s unlikely that everyone who was a smoker when they were surveyed responded accurately. This may be due to the social stigma some people attach to smoking. As a result, the findings are likely to underestimate the true percentage of people who were smokers.
The figures on this page are based on survey data. Find out more about:
- interpreting survey data, including how reliability is affected by the number of people surveyed
- how weighting is used to make survey data more representative of the whole population
In the data file
See Download the data for:
- unrounded figures
- figures for all ethnic groups combined, including people whose ethnicity was not known
- confidence intervals for each ethnic group
3. By ethnicity
| Ethnicity | % | Survey respondents |
|---|---|---|
| All | 14.4 | 152,816 |
| Asian | 9.1 | 9,516 |
| Black | 11.0 | 4,077 |
| Chinese | 7.7 | 729 |
| Mixed | 20.4 | 1,389 |
| White | 15.0 | 134,770 |
| Other | 15.5 | 2,216 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity’ (CSV)
Summary of Cigarette smoking among adults By ethnicity Summary
This data shows that:
- in 2018, 14.4% of adults in England smoked
- the percentage of adults who smoked was higher than average in the Mixed (20.4%) and White (15.0%) ethnic groups
- the percentage of adults who smoked was lower than average in the Chinese (7.7%), Asian (9.1%) and Black (11.0%) ethnic groups
4. By ethnicity over time
| Ethnicity | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All | 19.3 | 18.4 | 17.8 | 16.9 | 15.5 | 14.9 | 14.4 |
| Asian | 10.8 | 10.8 | 10.8 | 10.0 | 9.4 | 9.3 | 9.1 |
| Black | 13.0 | 12.0 | 13.5 | 11.3 | 10.3 | 10.4 | 11.0 |
| Chinese | 11.5 | 10.0 | 10.9 | 12.2 | 7.4 | 8.6 | 7.7 |
| Mixed | 24.9 | 25.5 | 24.4 | 22.4 | 20.8 | 20.5 | 20.4 |
| White | 20.1 | 19.2 | 18.5 | 17.6 | 16.2 | 15.4 | 15.0 |
| Other | 18.3 | 16.3 | 16.8 | 16.7 | 14.6 | 16.5 | 15.5 |
Download table data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘By ethnicity over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Cigarette smoking among adults By ethnicity over time Summary
This data shows that:
- between 2012 and 2018, the percentage of adults in England who smoked fell from 19.3% to 14.4%, a drop of 4.9 percentage points
- in the same period, the percentage of White adults who smoked fell from 20.1% to 15.0%, and the percentage of Asian adults who smoked fell from 10.8% to 9.1%
- the percentage of smokers also fell in the other ethnic groups, but due to the small numbers of people surveyed, we can't be confident about how their trends have changed
5. Data sources
Source
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Office for National Statistics
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
The Annual Population Survey (APS) is the largest ongoing household survey in the UK and covers a range of topics, including:
- personal characteristics
- labour market status
- work characteristics
- education
- health
The purpose of the APS is to provide information on important social and socio-economic variables at local levels, such as labour market estimates.
The published statistics also allow government to monitor estimates on a range of issues between Censuses.
Secondary source
Public Health Outcomes Framework
Type of data
Survey data
Type of statistic
Official statistics
Publisher
Public Health England
Publication frequency
Yearly
Purpose of data source
This data is used by government and healthcare providers to help inform smoking prevention policies and initiatives and measure their success.
6. Download the data
Measure, ethnicity, ethnicity_type, time, time_type, geography, geography_type, gender, age, value, value type, sample size, confidence intervals (lower bound, upper bound).