Vaping surge as smoking slumps

THE number of smokers in Britain has fallen to an historic low as millions of young adults switch to e-cigarettes, an official analysis revealed yesterday.

The Office for National Statistics found that just over one in six of us now smoke – half the number of the early 1970s. And more than two million have replaced tobacco with e-cigarettes.

Most are trying to give up tobacco, some think vaping is safer, and others use e-cigarettes indoors to avoid the 2007 legal ban on smoking in public buildings.

Average consumption is down to 11.3 cigarettes per day, the lowest number since 1974. Among those aged 18-25, smoking rates dropped by a fifth from 2010 to 2015 – with just over 20 per cent of them now counting themselves as smokers.