Smoking, Drinking and Drug Use among Young People in England, 2023

This part focuses on the behaviour of pupils who are categorised as current and/or regular smokers.

As presented in Part 1: Smoking prevalence and cigarette consumption, only 1% of young people were regular smokers in 2023. 

Current smokers include regular smokers (defined as usually smoking at least one cigarette per week) and occasional smokers (defined as usually smoking less than one cigarette per week). The category of occasional smokers includes pupils who said that they did not smoke but who recorded some cigarette consumption in the last week.​

The following things should be kept in mind when considering the findings in this part:

• The findings are based on a small proportion of 11 to 15 year olds.

• Over half of current smokers were aged 15 (52%)¹.

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^{1. Based on weighted data.}

Usual sources, by year (current smokers)

Pupils could give more than one answer for this measure and only the most common sources are shown. A longer time series based on regular smokers can be seen in the data tables (table 2.1b), but it is current smokers who are discussed here as the sample size for regular smokers is smaller.

In 2023, the most common source of cigarettes for current smokers was to be given them by friends (48%).  ​

The proportion buying cigarettes from shops was 33%, similar to 2021. 31% of current smokers said that they found it difficult to buy cigarettes from a shop (see table 2.6).

For more data relating to this section:

Tables 2.1a, 2.1b and 2.6, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023

Dependency on smoking, by length of time have smoked regularly

Pupils who smoke regularly tend to see themselves as dependent on the habit.

61% of regular smokers reported that they would find it very or fairly difficult to not smoke for a week, while 66% reported that they would find it very or fairly difficult to give up smoking altogether.

Pupils who had been regular smokers for more than one year were more likely to find it difficult to not smoke for a week (75%), and give up altogether (79%) 

Desire to giving up smoking

Note that in this section, where a regular smoker responded 'don't know' when asked if they would like to give up smoking , this is considered as saying 'they would not like to give up'. 

Only 10% of regular smokers were committed to giving up; they had tried in the past and said that they would still like to. A further 3% said they would like to give up but had not tried, making a total of 13% of regular smokers who said they would like to give up smoking. This is down from 28% in 2018.

Nearly three quarters (74%) appeared unconcerned about dependence on smoking; they had never tried to give up and did not say they would like to. A further 13% said they had previously tried to give up but did not say they would like to now. 

Approaches and services used to help give up smoking, by smoking status

This measure includes current smokers who have tried to give up. Pupils could give more than one answer.

E-cigarettes were the most common form of help used, with 77% of current smokers saying they used them to help give up smoking. Other commonly mentioned methods included nicotine products (28%) and not spending time with friends who smoke (25%).

For more data relating to this section:

Table 2.13, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023

This measure excludes ‘reclassified’ occasional smokers; pupils who recorded some smoking in the past seven days, but described themselves as non-smokers and so were not given the opportunity to record whether their families knew they smoked.

Family knowledge by pupil smoking status

Of the pupils that currently smoke, 35% were secret smokers.

Occasional smokers were more likely to be secret smokers (44%) than regular smokers (19%).

For more data relating to this section:

Table 2.14, Smoking, drinking and drug use among young people, 2023