Tobacco

Tobacco use is the biggest public health threat globally and up to half of all current users will die of a tobacco-related disease. It is a risk factor for many health conditions including lung, throat, mouth, breast and colorectal cancer; chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and emphysema; cardiovascular disease, coronary heart disease and stroke; miscarriage and low birth weight in babies; and hypertensive heart disease (caused by high blood pressure).

For statistics on smoking during pregnancy, please see our maternity and infancy section.

Local strategy: Tobacco Free Lancashire and South Cumbria Strategy 2023-2028

Key findings

Rates are directly standardised and are per 100,000 of the population aged 18 and over, unless otherwise stated. 

Smoking prevalence Annual Population Survey (APS), 2022-24

• In the Lancashire-12 area, an estimated 11% of adults (18+) smoke, which is statistically similar to the England estimate of 10.9%. At a district level, Fylde (7.2%) has a statistically significantly lower prevalence of smoking whilst all other districts are statistically similar to England (a value for Ribble Valley is unavailable). 
• Blackburn with Darwen (15.4%) and Blackpool (19.1%) both have a significantly higher estimated proportion of adult smokers compared to England.

Priority population prevalence

• 19.5% of adults in routine and manual occupations (18-64 years) are estimated to be smokers in Lancashire, similar to the England prevalence of 19.2% (APS, 2022-24) – all Lancashire-12 districts with available prevalence are all statistically similar to England.
• In Blackburn with Darwen an estimated 25.1% of adults in routine and manual occupations are smokers (statistically similar to England) whilst in Blackpool 25.9% are estimated smokers (statistically significantly higher than England).
• 7.5% of women in Lancashire were estimated to be smokers at the time of delivery (all births, 2024/25), which is significantly worse than England (6.1%); however, the trend data shows this is decreasing (getting better). 9.1% of women in Rossendale, Pendle, Hyndburn, and Burnley are estimated to be smokers at time of delivery whilst in Ribble Valley it is estimated 8.5% are smokers, all significantly worse than England. Trend data for Ribble Valley, Lancaster, and Chorley shows no significant change in the prevalence of smoking at time of delivery whilst for all other districts it is declining.
• In Blackpool there is a significantly higher proportion of estimated smokers at time of delivery (13.1%) when compared with England, in Blackburn with Darwen the prevalence (5.8%) is statistically similar to England.

Smoking Quitters (2022/23)

• A significantly lower proportion of the smoking population in Lancashire set a quit data in 2024/25 (3.2%) when compared with England (4.5%). There is also a significantly lower proportion of persons setting a quit date in Blackburn with Darwen (3.3%) whilst in Blackpool (4.7%) the proportion is similar to England.
• In the period 2024/245 approximately 2,062 people (16+ years) were recorded as ‘successful quitters’ in the Lancashire-12 area, equating to 55.3% of those who had set a quit date. This is significantly higher than what is observed for England (52.6%), trend data shows no significant change in this proportion in Lancashire but a decline for England. In both Blackpool (49.7%) and Blackburn with Darwen (44.5%) the proportion of those setting a quit date who were recorded as successful quitters was significantly lower than for England, though Blackpool is seeing an increase.
• Quitters as a proportion of the population shows that in Lancashire 1.76% of the smoking population successfully quit smoking in 2024/5 which is significantly lower than England (2.44%). Blackburn with Darwen also has a significantly lower proportion of the smoking population successfully quitting at 1.45% whilst in Blackpool (2.31%) the proportion is similar to England

Hospital admissions and mortality rates

• During the 2019/20 period, Lancashire-12 (1,465 per 100,000), Blackburn with Darwen (1,768), and Blackpool (3,071) recorded a significantly higher rate of smoking-attributable hospital admissions compared to England (1,398 per 100,000).
• The smoking-attributable mortality rate (2017-19) is significantly higher in Lancashire-12 (229.1 per 100,000), Blackburn with Darwen (321.6), and Blackpool (379.9) compared to England (202.2).
• Mortality rates from lung cancer and COPD (2021-23) are statistically significantly higher in Lancashire (53.7% and 51.2% respectively) when compared with England (47.5% and 43.9% respectively), both Blackburn with Darwen and Blackpool also have higher rates of mortality for both of these causes.

For county and unitary data and further information please see below. The Local Tobacco Control Profiles for England also provide local data alongside national comparators to support health improvement.

Page updated November 2025