A fifth of area’s adults still light up

Almost a fifth of adults in South Lanarkshire are smokers, according to new NHS figures.

The figure sits at 19.1 per cent for the region.

However, new data from the NHS shows that in 2016, for the first time, a majority of Scottish adults (56.9 per cent) said they had never been a smoker, while 17.7 per cent say they are current smokers and the rest are ex-smokers.

Statistically, you are most likely to encounter a current smoker in Clackmannanshire, where 24.3 per cent of adults smoke.

In the Orkney Islands, only 8.5 per cent smoke.

Northern Ireland has the highest smoking rates of any country in the UK, with 18.1 per cent of adults there classed as current smokers. Scotland is next, followed by Wales (16.9 per cent) and England (15.5 per cent).