One in seven adults are now smokers, says survey

ANTI-SMOKING campaigns have reduced the proportion of smokers in Jersey to around one in seven adults, new figures show.

Data included in the recently-released Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey, showed that 15% of Islanders were smokers, two-thirds of whom smoked daily.

The 2019 survey revealed that the decline of smoking in recent years had flattened out during the last 12 months, but a senior public health official said there was still optimism that the long-term trend was down.

Between 2008 and 2013 the combined total of daily and occasional smokers was between 21% and 23%, but in the past six years it has fallen to 15%.

‘We’ve seen before that the figure reaches a plateau for a few years and then starts to go down again,’ said principal policy officer Martin Knight. ‘There remains a stubborn core of committed smokers, but we still believe there’s scope for further reduction.’

The Treasury Minister revealed last month that falling numbers of smokers had left a £2 million hole in public finances. The shortfall has been addressed through an increase in duty on petrol and alcohol, passed by the States Assembly as part of the Government Plan for 2020-2023.

As part of ongoing work to combat smoking, Jersey and Guernsey have collaborated in a submission to the World Health Organisation. This led to the islands being accepted to join a total of 180 countries and states recognised by the WHO’s framework convention for tobacco control, which has been described as the world’s first global public health treaty.

Acceptance into the framework acknowledged the progress made in protecting the public from exposure to tobacco smoke, and was accompanied by a commitment to advance packaging changes and eventually – within five years – a ban on tobacco advertising.

The Jersey Opinions and Lifestyle Survey also addressed e-cigarettes, showing that users were almost exclusively current or former smokers, with only 3% of people who had never smoked using e-cigarettes.

Mr Knight said he was encouraged that e-cigarettes were being used by smokers trying to manage or reduce their dependence on tobacco rather than acting as a gateway to taking up the habit.