Hansard

Smoking

Volume 409: debated on Wednesday 16 July 2003

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Mrs. Calton

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the proportion of children and teenagers who smoke. [121353]

Miss Melanie Johnson

The 1998 White Paper "Smoking Kills" set a target to reduce smoking among 11 to 15-year-olds from 13 per cent. in 1996 to 9 per cent. by 2010 with a fall to 11 per cent. by 2005.Among 11 to 15-year-olds, smoking prevalence has remained unchanged since 2000 at ten per cent. and we are on course to meet our target for reducing smoking.The information requested is shown in the tables.

Prevalence of regular cigarette smoking among secondary school pupils aged 11 to 15, by gender England, 1996 to 2002
Percentages
199619981999200020012002
Boys1198989
Girls151210121111
All pupils13119101010

Notes:

  • 1. Regular smokers are those who smoke at least one cigarette a week, on average.

    • Source:

    The Department of Health Statistical Press Notice "Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people in England in 2002: Provisional Results" http://www.doh.gov.uk/public/spnmar03-smoking.htm

    Prevalence of smoking cigarettes among adults, aged 16–19 and gender, England 1996–2001

    Percentages

    1

    1996

    1

    1998

    2

    1998

    2

    2000

    2

    2001

    Men2530303024
    Women3233332831
    All Persons2931313028

    1 Unweighted

    2Weighted

    Notes:

  • 1. Up until 2000, data on the prevalence on smoking from the General Household Survey were only available every two years.
  • 2. Data for 1998 onwards were weighted to compensate for under-representation of people in some groups: earlier figures were based on unweighted data, and are not therefore directly comparable.
  • 3. Respondents who answered "yes" to the question "Do you smoke cigarettes at all nowadays?"

    • Source:

    Office for National Statistics: General Household Survey 2001, published as 'Living in Britain: Results from the 2001 General Household Survey'. Available from the internet at: http:// www.statistics.gov.uk/lib2001/index.html.