The table illustrates how many smokers in 15-to-20-year-old males and females in Britain from 1970 to 2000.
Overall, the percentage of young smokers in both genders saw an upward trend over the period. Additionally, the figure for smoking males is generally higher than their counterparts.
In 1970, the percentage of males smoking in Britain accounted for 10%. Over the next 15 years, there was a significant rising in the data, with figures increasing from 10% to reach a peak of 37% in 1985. However, from 1985 onwards, smoking rates among males saw a gradual decline, falling to 28% in 2000.
In the first surveyed year, the proportion of females smoking started much lower at 5%, which was half the rates for males at the same time. The trend for females had the remarkable increase in the following years, with the highest figures at 37% in 1990, which surpassed their counterparts at 34%. At this peak, female smoking rates followed a downward trend as males, decreasing to 27% in the last examined year.