Figures Show Vaping Is Still The Best Way To Quit Smoking
UK smokers are continuing to stub out the stinkies and switch to e-cigarettes in greater numbers which suggests this year’s Stoptober campaign could be the best ever.
In England alone 400,000 smokers quit last year averaging out at a staggering 1,069 people every day – that’s one smoker every 80 seconds!
Despite the huge decrease there’s still 6.1 million smokers in England with 6 out of 10 of them desperate to quit and it’s hoped many of them will be taking part in Stoptober.
The figures come from Public Health England who say they’ve found many smokers fail because they opt for the ‘cold turkey’ approach – as in packing up the fags and relying on will power alone.
PHE says there’s far better ways now including support from Stop Smoking Services – with 51% of users managing to quit completely.
However smokers that combined visits to stop smoking clinics with e-cigarettes showed a success rate of a whopping 63%!
Statistics show that e-cigarettes remain the most popular choice to quit smoking in the UK with currently 3.2 million adult users [and rising].
The number of dual users is dropping too – those that vape and smoke – with figures showing 52% of all vapers are now smoke free whilst 900,000 people have quit both smoking and vaping.
The Lie Detector Results Say Vaping Is The Best Way To Quit Smoking
Politicians – health chiefs and even TV celebrity Jeremy Kyle back this years Stoptober with Jezza revealing he’d quit his 35 year habit through the use of e-cigs.
He said:
I was a 20 a day smoker for most of my life and am proud to say I quit smoking earlier this year. I’ve tried many times in the past to quit but nothing really worked for me. This year, however, the time was right and I wanted to do it for me.
With the death of my mother, having cancer myself and becoming a grandad this year, I was determined and I’m so happy I’m now smokefree. I’m not going to pretend it is easy, but I knew my time smoking was up.
The thing that is really helping me stay smokefree is vaping. I’m currently on the lowest nicotine strength and will then come off the e-cigarette altogether when the time is right for me. Since quitting I’ve learned just how important using support is and for people not to go ‘cold turkey’ – that certainly didn’t work for me in the past.
If I can quit, I honestly believe anyone can quit if you just have the right support, and that’s what Stoptober is there to give you and I want people to know that and to do it this year.</span
Dr. Jenny Harries, Deputy Medical Director at Public Health England said:
There are many different types of stop smoking support available, so it can be difficult for a smoker to know what will work best for them. The important thing is not to be put off trying to quit even if you have not managed to in the past.
This year, Stoptober can help you find a combination that could work for you. We predict that thousands of smokers will quit every day over the next 10 years – I urge smokers not to get left behind for the benefit of their health. Join in, find your best way to quit and start your 28-day journey to becoming smokefree.
And Steve Brine, Public Health Minister said:
Millions of people are living healthier lives as a result of our efforts to reduce smoking rates. Britain is a global leader on tobacco control and our robust policies mean smoking rates have fallen to record lows. But we are not complacent – we know we must do all we can to keep encouraging smokers to quit for good.
Never thought I’d be praising politicians lol – but it’s fair to say and unlike their counterparts in for instance America – Australia and India – the MPs here have been very open to the use of e-cigs as indeed has the medical establishment.
The UK Continues To The Lead The World In Sensible Harm Reduction
It’s a pity other countries haven’t adopted out sensible grounded and carefully considered stance on all things vaping – especially given the number of smokers in Australia for instance is on the rise – whilst America is teetering on the brink of decimating the US vape scene.
Which considering a study of American vapers earlier in the year showed the use of e-cigarettes led to a considerable drop in smokers is baffling to say the least – read that study HERE – however the results speak for themselves with the conclusions being:
Compared with 2006, past-12-month quit attempts and smoking cessation increased among adults aged 25–44 in recent years. Current e-cigarette use was associated with increased past-12-month quit attempts and successful smoking cessation among established smokers.
These findings are relevant to future tobacco policy decisions.
You can’t be clearer than that – if American politicians and health bosses REALLY want to help folks stop smoking they’d call a truce on the current crazy war on all things vape and let folks make their own minds up about the evidence…as Scooby Doo used to say – “we’d be alright if it wasn’t for those meddling politicians…” or something like that 😉
Credit where credit is due and for once we can say the UK establishment is a beacon of light for something good!
The below is another report from 2017 that shows that smokers have declined and as of today, continue to do so.
More Folks Quit Smoking Than Ever Before – Is it Down to Vaping?
The number of smokers in the UK has dropped significantly once again with young people leading the way.
In a nutshell smoking levels in the UK remain at the lowest levels since 1974 – probably about the time I had my first fag!
The Office for National Statistics says the drop equates to a massive 4% but that still means over 7million people still smoke in the UK.
The report states:
In 2016, the proportion of current smokers in the UK was 15.8%, which equates to around 7.6 million in the population, a statistically significant decline of more than 4 percentage points since 2010.
Whilst vaping can’t be singled out as the main reason for the drop in smoking numbers – it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see that e-cigarettes must surely have made an impact – despite recent legislation.
Indeed as we’ll see later the findings reflect the growth in e-cigarette use as a possible contributory factor to the results.
Vaping NOT as Addictive as Smoking
The news comes after a study showed that vaping is not as addictive as most people think – unless of course you count the addiction to buying all those new shiny mods and tanks!
That report and for once widely reported in the media – came from Penn State College of Medicine where researchers tested 3,586 vapers and concluded:
- Vapers wait longer when waking up before vaping
- Vapers are less likely to consider themselves as addicts
- Vapers find it pretty easy to not vape where it isn’t allowed and without the cravings
Head of the research Professor Liu said:
No doubt about it, e-cigarettes are addictive, but not at the same level as traditional cigarettes.
Smoking Levels at Lowest for 40 Years
However it’s the results from the ONS were most interested in with the largest decline in smokers coming in the 18 to 24 year-old category.
The ONS report states:
In 2016, it was found that those aged 18 to 24 experienced the largest decline in smoking prevalence of around 6 percentage points since 2010, however, still remained the second most likely age group to smoke at 19.3%
That has to be welcomed however the stats suggest that it is this young age group that is most likely to begin smoking is worrying.
Maybe if a more positive spin [and less legislation and restrictions] was put on vaping that might change – but hey what do I know!
Despite that – smoking levels among people in the UK is at its lowest level since 1974 with the report stating:
Since 1974, the number of cigarettes smoked each day on average among current smokers has been declining.Although the average daily cigarette consumption for men in Great Britain increased slightly in 2016 to 12.0, this increase was not statistically significant.
For women, the average consumption in 2016 was similar to that observed in 2015 at 11.0.
The results were gathered from the Annual Population Survey as well as the Opinions and Lifestyle Survey which is done face to face and covers around 320,000 households per year.
Those sampled were asked two simple questions:
- Have you ever smoked cigarettes regularly? (yes or no)
- And do you smoke cigarettes at all nowadays? (yes or no)
The UK Government had set a 15.8% target of UK none smokers by 2015 which has now been met.
Meanwhile in Wales the target is 16% by 2020 – Northern Ireland its 15% whilst Scotland wants to see a mere 5% drop by 2034 – surely that’s reachable lol.
Use of E-Cigarettes in the UK
The survey throws up some fascinating results around the UK’s vapers and vaping habits showing there’s now close to 3million of us and growing.
By far the most avid vapers are the 16 to 24 and 24 to 34 age range with men more likely to vape than women.
The largest increase in those coming to vaping is in the 16 to 24 year old bracket however and given this is my category – go old guys lol – the next rise comes in the 50 to 59 group.
The survey shows that quitting smoking is the main reason people turn to e-cigs and vaping and despite all the endless streams of negative media – most believed vaping was considerably safer than smoking.
However it’s not all good news and it seems that the recent wave of junk science and media horror stories centred around vaping is having some impact on smokers perceptions.
The report found that:
The most negative view of e-cigarettes were held by smokers who have never used one previously.Specifically, 60.8% of smokers who had never used an e-cigarette felt that e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes; this proportion is around 14 percentage points lower than the 75.1% of smokers who have ever used an e-cigarette (that is, current and past use).
Interestingly, dual users of cigarettes and e-cigarettes had more accurate perceptions. In 2016, of dual users, 91.1% reported that e-cigarettes were less harmful than cigarettes, something which was also found when looking at 2015 data.
Let’s see how the mainstream media ‘spins’ these positive results 😉
Key Points of the Findings
- In 2016, of all adult survey respondents in the UK, 15.8% smoked which equates to around 7.6 million in the population.
- Of the constituent countries, 15.5% of adults in England smoked; for Wales, this figure was 16.9%; Scotland, 17.7% and Northern Ireland, 18.1%.
- In the UK, 17.7% of men were current smokers which was significantly higher in comparison with 14.1% of women.
- Those aged 18 to 24 in the UK experienced the largest decline in smoking prevalence of 6.5 percentage points since 2010.
- Among current smokers in Great Britain, men smoked 12.0 cigarettes each day on average whereas women smoked 11.0 cigarettes each day on average; these are some of the lowest levels observed since 1974.
- In Great Britain, 5.6% of respondents in 2016 stated they currently used an e-cigarette in 2016, which equates to approximately 2.9 million people in the population.
You can read the full report HERE
Stoptober might be coming to end soon but that doesn’t mean you or a smoker you know should wait until next year to quit – quitting is for life not just October!
Do check out our article: Stoptober – Best E Cigarettes to Make the Switch & Stoptober Vape Deals – for help and advice on buying the right e-cigarette starter kit and e-liquid – you can do it!
