Smoking data shows which boroughs in the capital are kicking the habit, with the east of London struggling to go smoke-free. Check out our interactive map to see the smoking rates quickly and easily.
The prevalence of smoking in London (14.6%) is on par with the England average (14.9%). Although clear divides can be seen between the London boroughs and in the rate of successful quitters.
The worst offending borough in London is Hackney with 21.4% of the population smoking. Islington (20.1%) is the next highest smoking rate in London, followed by Tower Hamlets (19.7%).
The most smoke-free London borough is Harrow, which has the lowest smoking rate with 9% of the population smoking. Harrow is also joint 2nd for the lowest smoking rate in England. Richmond upon Thames (9.8%) is the second lowest in London, followed by Ealing (11%) as the third lowest for smoking in England.
Interactive image can be accessed here.
The figures were sourced from Public Health England from NHS ‘quit smoking’ services and collated by Vape Club for Vaping Awareness Month, VApril. The data reveals a detailed look at where smoking remains an issue and how successful NHS services have been able to encourage smoking cessation, the quit rate.
The England average quit rate is 2%. Compared with this, the data shows the London boroughs that fall below the average quit rate and are most reluctant to quit the habit. Havering ranks lowest, with a smoking rate of a mere 0.1% successfully quitting. The borough with the second lowest quit rate was Sutton (0.6%), followed by Newham (0.7%).
Hammersmith and Fulham are the best performing boroughs in London for quitters, with 7.7% of smokers successfully quitting through NHS cessation services. Following this with the second highest number of quitters in London, was Kensington and Chelsea (5.5%), and Westminster (5.2%) with the third highest quit rate.
How can VApril help?
In a recent UK study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, participants were taken from the NHS ‘quit smoking’ services and were given either the standard available nicotine replacement, or provided with a half using e-cigarettes and half using other nicotine replacement products. It was found that nearly one in five people (18%) from the vaping sample successfully quit, compared to one in every 10 of quitters using alternative nicotine replacement methods.
According to Public Health England, vaping may be contributing to at least 20,000 smokers quitting every year, yet clearly more needs to be done in promoting vaping in Yorkshire and Humber. VApril aims to continue where Stopober started to encourage smokers to switch from smoking to vaping.
Dan Marchant, founder of Vape Club and a board member of the UK Vaping Industry Association said, “Vaping gives a real alternative to traditional smoking cessation products, and as the study shows they are actually twice as effective.
“It is fantastic to see organisations such as Public Health England and the NHS embrace the public health breakthrough that is vaping, but we still have a long way to go to get this message out to the remaining 7.4m smokers in the UK.”
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