Revealed: Smoking rates have gone UP over the last decade in 20 parts of the UK… so how close is YOUR area to being ‘smoke-free’?

Smoking rates have actually risen in 20 boroughs across the UK in the last decade, despite a huge Government push to eradicate the killer habit.

Official statistics suggest the proportion of adults hooked on cigarettes has even doubled in one part of the country since 2012.

This is despite smoking rates across Britain as a whole crashing to an all-time low.

Just 11.9 per cent of adults regularly lit up in 2023, the Office for National Statistics says. This is equivalent to around 6million people.

Smoking is now especially uncool among Gen Z, with rates having decreased by 60 per cent among 18-24 year olds since modern records began.

Despite the downturn, which has been matched by a meteoric rise in vaping, figures suggest that smoking rates have risen by 134 per cent in Uttlesford, Essex.  

Some 24.9 of residents in Uttlesford smoked in 2023, compared to 10.6 per cent in 2012.

South Holland in Lincolnshire saw the second biggest rise (77.7 per cent), as per MailOnline’s analysis, soaring from 14.8 per cent to 26.3 per cent. 

The two areas logged the highest rates in the UK.

Although 20 boroughs have defied nationwide trends, 17 authorities are now technically ‘smoke-free’. 

This status is defined by the Government as less than 5 per cent of the adult population being current smokers. 

Ministers are aiming to make England smoke-free by 2030, with a potential ban looming on lighting up in pub gardens, near football grounds and even outside nightclubs.

Areas which have already reached the threshold, as of last year, include St Albans, Hertfordshire and Woking.

Due to small sample sizes in local areas, an individual year’s figures can vary more than expected with previous years.

Men are more likely to smoke than women regardless of any other factors.

Young people aged 18-24 have seen the sharpest fall in smoking rates since 2011, falling from more than 25 per cent to less than 10 in 2023.

The legal age to buy cigarettes in the UK is currently 18.

Under plans currently going through the motions, ministers want to raise the age of sale by one year every year starting in 2027. It would mean those born after January 1 2009 would never be able to legally buy cigarettes. 

Separate ONS figures also revealed the prevalence of vaping has risen from around 4 per cent to nearly 10 per cent.

Vaping was highest among those aged between 16 and 24, with over one in six using the devices that come in a variety of flavours and colourful packaging.

Vapes, or e-cigarettes, are billed by the NHS as a helpful aid to get people off more harmful traditional tobacco products.

But experts have voiced concerns about a significant rise in people who have never smoked using them because they still deliver addictive nicotine. E-cigarettes also contain harmful toxins, and their long-term effects remain a mystery.

Research yesterday suggested about 1million people in England who have never used a traditional cigarette are vaping.

As well as their plans to eradicate smoking, the previous Tory Government had also vowed to ban disposable e-cigarettes and to curb the rising epidemic of children vaping.

Kids as young as eight have picked up the habit, according to Trading Standards.

They are sold in flavours such as strawberry ice cream, cotton candy and cherry cola, while some brands also feature cartoon characters