The bar chart illustrates the number of men and women who smoked cigarettes in the United Kingdom between 2011 and 2021.
Overall, the total number of cigarette smokers in the UK declined throughout the given period, with men consistently outnumbering women. Both genders experienced a notable fall in smoking rates, particularly among women, whose numbers dropped more sharply than those of men.
At the beginning of the period, men had the highest number of smokers, with around 4 million in 2011, while the figure for women was slightly lower at a little more than 3.5 million. A sharp decline followed for both genders in 2012, when male smokers decreased to just below 3 million and female smokers halved to around 2 million. Over the next few years, male smokers fluctuated slightly, staying between 2.5 and 3 million, whereas female smokers continued to decline more steadily, remaining below 1.5 million after 2015.
From 2016 onwards, both genders saw a gradual reduction in smoking habits, as men’s numbers hovered around 2.5 to 2.8 million until 2019 before dropping significantly to approximately 1.2 million in 2021. Women followed a similar pattern, ending the period at under 1 million.