Brits are smoking nearly 1.5billion fewer cigarettes a year compared to 2011 as national tobacco use drops

BRITS are now smoking nearly one and half billion fewer cigarettes annually compared to 2011.

A Cancer Research UK study reveals national tobacco use in England has fallen by a quarter over seven years.

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And regular smokers now consume just 10.6 cigarettes a day – down from 12.4 at the start of the decade.

Around 15 per cent of adults now light up, compared to 21 per cent in 2011.

Experts from University College London calculate this drop equates with 118 million fewer cigarettes smoked in England each month.

Lead researcher Dr Sarah Jackson, from UCL’s Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group, said: “It’s brilliant that over a billion fewer cigarettes are being sold and smoked in England every year.

“Studies like this help to give us an accurate picture of cigarette consumption so we know where we’re at and what more needs to be done.”

PREVENTABLE ILLNESS

The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, suggests tougher sales and marketing laws have sped up the decline in smoking.

One person a minute is admitted to hospital due to tobacco use.

Cigarettes remain the single biggest causes of preventable illness in England, killing almost 80,000 people each year.

Cancer Research UK said more needs to be done to reduce smoking rates and called for tobacco firms to pay for help quit services.

George Butterworth, the charity’s senior policy manager, said: “It’s great news that fewer cigarettes are being sold and smoked.

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“Big tobacco said that introducing stricter regulation wouldn’t work and campaigned against it but this is proof that smoking trends are heading in the right direction.

“But smoking is still the biggest preventable cause of cancer and certain groups have much higher rates of smoking, such as routine and manual workers, so we can’t stop here and think job done.”

Ministers have pledged to make the UK smoke-free by 2030.

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