U.K. Set To Miss 2030 Target To Become “smokefree”

The U.K. government is set to miss an ambitious target to have fewer than 5% of the population smoking by 2030. According to a new report from Cancer Research UK, the government is at least a decade behind achieving this goal.

The target was originally set by the U.K. government in 2019, but the recent analysis of trends and progress suggests the U.K. will now not reach the its goal till 2039.

Levels of people smoking have been steadily falling in the U.K. since it’s height of popularity in the 1950s and at the last count in 2019, just over 14% of U.K. adults smoked, with slightly fewer women than men smoking. This is a slightly higher percentage than in the U.S., where around 12.5% of adults are smokers, but much lower than some other European countries such as France (25.5%) and Germany (30.9%).

Despite this, between 75,000-100,000 people die in the U.K. annually due to smoking related health conditions, with around 35,000 of these being from lung cancer, the most common cause of cancer-related death in the country.

Few countries in the world have under 5% of adults smoking, but they do exist, with Nigeria, Panama, Ethiopia, Ecuador and Ghana among the countries where only a few % of the adult population smoke. In Europe, Sweden has the lowest % of adults smoking at 10% as of 2018.

7.5 million people in the U.K. currently smoke and it remains the leading cause of cancer and premature death. As with in many countries, smoking and socioeconomic status are correlated, with people in more deprived areas of the U.K. more likely to smoke and more likely to smoke more heavily than those from more affluent areas.

Smokers also place a significant burden on the U.K.s taxpayer-funded National Health Service with around half a million hospital admissions per year attributed to smoking. Smokers also cost the NHS £2.4 billion ($2.9 billion) and a further £13 billion ($15.6 billion) is thought to be lost in productivity costs from premature deaths, unemployment and tobacco-related loss of earnings.

“Quitting smoking is one of the most popular New Year’s resolutions,” said Cancer Research UK’s Chief clinician, Professor Charles Swanton. “But people are rarely successful on their own – they need support and the right tools to help them quit. Despite this, budgets for stop smoking services have been repeatedly cut, and access varies greatly across the country,” added Swanton.

The head of the charity is now calling on the government to urgently address this lack of progress and to publish a detailed plan for controlling tobacco use.

“Smoking remains the largest preventable cause of cancer and death in the UK, but the Government has the power to change this,” said Michelle Mitchell, Chief Executive of Cancer Research UK. “With bold action and strong leadership, we can ensure a future free of tobacco for reducing cancer and saving lives,” Mitchell added.