Date: 07/31/2025
Source: Nicotine & Tobacco Research (2025)
The Essentials
Population study (2022–2024) using the UK’s Smoking Toolkit Study (77,000+ adults).
13.9% of adults smoke; average 10.4 cigarettes per day → 28.6 billion annually.
Health and social care costs: £2.9 billion/year (≈£0.12 per cigarette).
Inequalities: disadvantaged classes smoke twice as much per capita (755 vs. 343 cigarettes).
Regional gaps: Northeast England & Scotland have the highest rates (11.7/day), while London has the lowest (8.4/day).
The Smoke Map in Numbers
Prevalence: 13.9 % of adults in Great Britain smoke.
Consumption
Average daily use: 10.4 cigarettes per smoker.
Heavy smokers: 5.5 % smoke more than 20 cigarettes a day.
Per‑capita consumption: 528 cigarettes per person per year.
Annual total: 28.6 billion cigarettes lit across England, Scotland, and Wales.
Social Inequality
Less advantaged classes (C2DE): 18.8 % smokers; 11 cigarettes per day.
Wealthier classes (ABC1): 10 % smokers; 9.4 cigarettes per day.
Annual per‑capita consumption: 755 (C2DE) vs. 343 (ABC1).
Geographic Map
Highest daily consumption: Northeast England and Scotland (11.7 cigarettes).
Lowest daily consumption: London (8.4 cigarettes).
Highest total consumption: Southeast England (nearly 4 billion cigarettes per year).
Economic and Environmental Impact
Health and social costs: £2.9 billion annually (≈£0.12 per cigarette).
Waste: 28.6 billion cigarette butts (≈140,000 tons per year).
Cigarette butts: the most common litter on the planet, loaded with persistent plastics and toxins.
Why It Matters
Smoking in Britain is no longer a mass habit, but among those who remain, the scars are deeper. The study reveals that the poorest communities both smoke more and inhale more intensely, bearing a disproportionate burden of harm. Tobacco here becomes not only a personal vice but a marker of inequality, concentrated where health and opportunity are already most fragile.
This research underscores a hard truth: the path to a smoke-free generation cannot ignore the structural inequities that keep cigarettes burning in certain regions and classes. Without tackling poverty and vulnerability, smoke will remain not just in lungs, but in the very fabric of society.
What Changes in Practice
Health/Regulation – Cessation services must be targeted to disadvantaged groups and high-consumption regions, not just the population at large.
Industry/Innovation – The gap between legal sales and actual consumption indicates illicit trade, necessitating monitoring systems and regulated alternatives.
Society/Environment – Cigarette butts (≈140,000 tons annually) are Britain’s most common litter, linking tobacco not only to health but also to environmental degradation.
Scenarios and Next Steps
Short term (1–2 years): Intensify cessation outreach in emergency departments, primary care, and deprived neighborhoods; enhance tracking of illicit tobacco flows.
Medium term (3–5 years): Integrate inequality-sensitive strategies into national tobacco control policy; expand harm-reduction access.
Long term (5–10 years): Reduce structural health inequalities; achieve a measurable decline in smoking prevalence across social classes; cut the environmental footprint of cigarette waste.
The Takeaway
“Tobacco in Britain is no longer everyone’s habit—it is the scar of inequality, etched deepest where lives are already hardest.”
For Further Reading
Read the full analysis here → claudioteixeira.substack.com/p/286-billion-cigarettes