Wales’ Headline Statistics
Our aim is for Wales to ultimately become a smokefree nation, eventually achieving a smoking prevalence rate of 5% or less… it currently stands at 19%.
Situation in Wales
- 19% of Welsh adults smoke
- Men = 21% and women = 17%
- 5,388 smoking attributable deaths and 26,489 smoking attributable hospital admissions annually
- Lowest prevalence rates stand at 13% in Monmouthshire whilst Neath Port Talbot has the highest rates at 25%
- The Welsh target of 16% of adults smoking by 2020 will not be met if latest projections are accurate, instead projected to be reached in 2025
Quit Smoking
- Considering all NHS smoking cessation services (including ‘Level 3’ pharmacies and ‘in-house’ services available via hospitals and GP surgeries) only 3.1% of smokers in Wales accessed NHS services in 2017/18, falling below the Wales Tobacco Control Action Plan target of 5%.
- 43% of those who were supported successfully quit (4-week validation)

Young People
- 40% of adult smokers regularly smoked before the age of 16
- 8% of boys and 9% of girls (aged 15/16) smoke regularly – a reduction of 5% over the past 5 years
- 30 young people take up smoking every day in Wales
- Since the 2007 smoking ban, 15% less children live with a parent who smokes
- Children are over 70% more likely to start smoking if just one parent smoked, and over twice as likely if that parent is the mother
- Second-hand smoke increases young infants’ risk of infections like flu, bronchitis and pneumonia by around 50%
Inequalities
- Smoking rates in the most deprived areas of Wales stand at 28%, compared to 13% among the least deprived adults
- Since the 2007 indoor smoking ban, smoking rates among the most socio-economic classes have dropped by 5%. Among those who are unemployed rates have actually increased by 2%
- The ethnic groups with the highest rates of smokers are Afro Caribbean men at 37%, followed by Bangladeshi men at 36%
- Smoking rates among female ethnic minorities are lower than the average whole population
Mental Health
- Smoking rates among those with mental ill health stands at 36%, compared to 19% among the whole Welsh population
- Men = 41%, women = 34% however men are more likely to have mental health issues
Pregnancy
- The proportion of pregnant women who smoked at initial assessment was higher for younger women, with 30% of women aged 24 or under smoking at initial assessment compared to 19% of women aged 25-34 and 16% of women ages 35 or over. (2017-18 )
- Women aged under 24 are the age range most likely to smoke throughout their pregnancy
- Cwm Taf Health Board has the highest rate of pregnant smokers at 24%, Cardiff and the Vale Health Board have the lowest at 14%
Second-hand smoke
0
infections or disease among children
0
GP consultations
0
hospital admissions
0
cases of sudden infant death syndrome
- 34% of non-smoking adults are regularly exposed to second-hand smoke
- Second-hand smoke exposure increases the risk of lung cancer in non-smokers by 20-30% and coronary heart disease by 25-35%
- Smoking in the home has reduced from 80% to 46% and in other people’s homes from 36% to 20% since the 2007 smoking ban
- There were 10% less asthma-related hospital admissions among children just one year after smoking bans were introduced, rising to 17% three years after
Economy
£ 0
million
Economic cost of smoking across Wales every year
£ 0
million
The cost of smoking to the Welsh NHS specifically per year
£ 0
million
Smoking cost to Welsh businesses specifically per year

- 20 a day = £56 a week, £243 a month, £2920 a year
- 10 a day = £120 a month, £1460 a year
- 28% – over 500,000 – could be lifted out of poverty if they stopped smoking
- 7 million households which include a smoker are in poverty
- 65% of Welsh people, including 24% of smokers, support increasing tax on cigarettes and tobacco
Illegal Tobacco
- 45% of smokers in Wales have been offered illegal tobacco
- 52% of purchases took place at a private address
- 59% of those who buy purchase it at least once a month
- 45% of purchases took place in a pub or club
- £4 average price paid for a pack of 20 illegal cigarettes
- 70% of buyers strongly agree, it allows them to smoke when they can’t afford it
- 45% see it as an important issue affecting the local community

Smokefree Spaces

- 71% agree that smoking should be banned in hospital grounds
- 61% agree with banning smoking in communal recreational spaces, such as parks and beaches
- 83% agree that smoking should be banned in outdoor children’s play areas
- Someone dies from a fire caused by a cigarette every 3 days in the UK
- 163 fires in Welsh homes were caused by smoking materials annually
- Cardiff Metropolitan University will be the first completely smokefree campus in Britain when it implements a ban at all its campuses from September 2019
Nicotine Products
Legislation
- Children’s playgrounds, school grounds and hospital grounds will be smokefree from summer 2019
- There are 3 smokefree beaches in the UK, all of which are in Wales: 2 in Swansea and one in Pembrokeshire
- Plain packaging became law in May 2016
- Smoking in cars when someone under the age of 18 is present became against the law in October 2015
- Point of sale display became law in December 2012 for large shops and April 2015 for smaller stores
- The smoking ban in enclosed public places came into force in Wales in April 2007, a few months before England
- Since the smoking ban in 2007, smoking prevalence among the public has fallen by 6%
- Prevalence among teenage boys has fallen by 6% and by 14% among teenage girls since the 2007 legislation