Suffolk has seen a 34% decline in smoking rates since 2015

The number of smokers across Suffolk has declined by 34% since 2015, according to a new study. Research by gosmokefree.co.

uk analysing data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) between 2015 and 2023. According to the figures in 2016, 16.1% of adults in the county smoked but by last year this had declined to 10.

6%. It means that Suffolk is the county with the 10th highest number of smokers who have quit behind Surrey, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Hertfordshire, Hampshire, East Sussex, Nottinghamshire, Cumbria and Somerset. Regionally the number of smokers having declined by 34% in Cambridgeshire, 30% in Essex and 22% in Norfolk.

According to a report published by Healthwatch Suffolk in March 2022 figures from the ONS showed that at 14% the county had a higher share of adult smokers compared to the national average. A self-reported study conducted by Healthwatch Suffolk earlier this year showed that 43% of the sample who had quit smoking had used vaping as a tool to help them quit. ONS data from last year estimates that 11.

5% people in the NHS Suffolk and North Essex area are smokers compared to 13.6% in 2022, 13.7% in 2021and 14.

3% in 2020. The ONS has also calculated that between 2019 and 2023 an average of 16.9% of people in Ipswich were smokers compared to 13.

1% in East Suffolk, 12.6% in Babergh, 12.4% in East Suffolk and 10.

3% in Mid Suffolk. Andy Yacoub, chief executive of Healthwatch Suffolk, said: “The reduction in smoking seen in Suffolk reflects a nationa.