One in 10 people in the East Riding hoping to stub out smoking habit

Public Health England data shows 10.4% of the area’s adults were smoking in 2020 – below the national average of 12.1%.

The smokers include 7.5% of women in the area and 13.2% of men.

While 61% of the East Riding residents who never smoked will have no idea how it feels to be faced with the task of quitting, 28.6% of those reporting to be ex-smokers might be reflecting on their success.

And when it comes to quitting, more men than women reported to have been able to kick the habit – 27.7% of adult female smokers and 29.3% of males.

The Government has launched a new campaign to encourage people to stop smoking in 2022, as new research shows teens whose parents smoked are far more likely to pick up the habit.

Analysis by The Better Health Smoke Free shows 4.9% of young teenagers whose caregivers smoke also smoke regularly, versus 1.2% of those whose caregivers do not.

Health minister Maggie Throup said she hoped the research would give parents extra motivation to quit smoking.

She said: “We know that many people make a quit attempt in January, and while there are so many good reasons to stop smoking for yourself, we hope that this new campaign – by highlighting the inter-generational smoking link with parents influencing their children – will be the added motivation many need to ditch the cigarettes for good this year.”

The Better Health campaign gives access to free quitting support and tools, including help from local Stop Smoking Services, the NHS Quit Smoking app, Facebook messenger bot, Stoptober Facebook online communities, daily emails and SMS, and an online Personal Quit Plan.