About these estimates

Current smoker estimates for each local authority can vary a lot from year to year because of small sample sizes. So, this indicator has moved to a five-year average to give a clearer picture of how smoking prevalence varies between local authority areas, rather than focusing on one year's figures.

The averages presented are calculated using data from 2019 to 2023, 2020 to 2024, and 2021 to 2025, where available.

Estimates are presented for local authorities that were active in the geographical classification that was available in the Annual Population Survey (APS) dataset. Local authorities that no longer exist because of local government reorganisation have been removed from the published data. Estimates for newly created authorities are based on the years of data available.

As geographical classifications are based on the Annual Population Survey (APS) geography available at the time of survey processing, geographies may not immediately reflect local government reorganisations. Some local authorities that are no longer active may still be present in the APS geography, while some newly created authorities may have fewer years of data available than the date on which the authority became active. Estimates for earlier periods have been updated to ensure consistency with the geography used for the latest published period.

Estimates for Cumberland, North Yorkshire, Somerset, and Westmorland and Furness are based on 2025 data only. Estimates for North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire are based on data from 2022 to 2025.

The five-year estimates have ranges of uncertainty (confidence intervals), which can be displayed by selecting the ‘Options’ button next to the bar and line charts.

Due to minor boundary changes in 2024, Local Authority codes were updated for Barnsley and Sheffield. Barnsley changed from E08000016 to E08000038, and Sheffield changed from E08000019 to E08000039. These changes did not affect comparability.

To account for the discontinuity caused by the move to telephone-only interviewing in 2020, a weighting adjustment was introduced for APS data from 2020 to 2023. A single factor was applied to the existing APS weights to give an adjusted weight, which reduced the discontinuity effect caused by the change in method of data collection. For the 2024 release, a revised weighting approach was developed, applying separate scaling factors for each year, reflecting the return to mixed mode (face-to-face and telephone) interviewing at the end of 2023. Estimates from 2020 to 2023 were revised to reflect the updated approach. With the return to mixed-mode interviewing in 2023, no further discontinuity adjustment was applied from 2024 onwards. From 2024, standard weighting procedures resumed. For more information, please refer to the Adult smoking habits in the UK methodology page.

Get the data

You can download this dataset in an XLSX, CSV or CSVW format, or download all available datasets in an XLSX or JSON-Stat format.

The original source data for this indicator can be found on the following page: Office for National Statistics(opens in a new tab).

Information on the strengths and limitations of the Explore Local Statistics service and methods used is available in the quality and methodology information (QMI) report.

Other indicators

Cigarette smokers is one of 116 local indicators on the Explore local statistics service. See the full list of local indicators.