Cigarette smoking habits among adults in the UK, including how many people smoke, differences between population groups, changes over time and use of e-cigarettes.

Adult smoking habits in the UK: 2025

Smoking

Around 4.9 million people aged 18 years and over (9.8% of the population) smoked cigarettes in the UK in 2025. This is a decrease from 2024 (10.6%), which follows a long-term downward trend. The proportion of current smokers has fallen by 10.4 percentage points since this data time series began in 2011 (20.2%), based on our estimates from the Annual Population Survey (APS).

Those aged 45 to 54 years had the highest proportion of current smokers (12.4%). Those aged 18 to 24 years have had the largest reduction in smoking prevalence among all age groups (18.5 percentage points) between 2011 (25.7%) and 2025 (7.2%).

E-cigarettes

In Great Britain, around 5.4 million adults aged 16 years and over (9.9%) used an e-cigarette daily or occasionally in 2025, based on the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey (OPN). While the number and percentage of adults using e-cigarettes has remained similar to 2024 (5.4 million and 10.0%), overall there has been an upward trend in the proportion of e-cigarette users since 2020 (6.4%). In 2025, the percentage of current e-cigarette users continued to be higher than current smokers according to the OPN (9.9% and 8.7%, respectively). This equates to around:

• 5.4 million current e-cigarette users

• 4.8 million current smokers

This is a continuation of the trend seen in 2024, when e-cigarette use overtook cigarette smoking for the first time. E-cigarette use was highest among people aged 25 to 34 years in Great Britain, with 16.4% using e-cigarettes daily or occasionally.

Table of contents:

1. Overview
2. How to use these statistics
3. Smoking by area
4. Smoking by personal characteristics
5. Smoking by socio-economic characteristics
6. Quitting smoking
7. Use of e-cigarettes
8. Definitions
9. Data on smoking and e-cigarettes
10. Data from other statistics producers
11. Quality, methods and data sources
12. Related links

According to the Annual Population Survey (APS), in the UK in 2025, the percentage of current smokers was:

• 9.5% in England

• 11.1% in Wales

• 11.4% in Scotland

• 9.9% in Northern Ireland

Smoking prevalence fell in all four nations between 2024 and 2025.