Equal In Smoking

The World in Stats - Female smokers
By Simon Briscoe

In the UK, the proportion of women smokers is far greater than in most other countries - one in four compared to one in 10 worldwide. In fact, the UK is one of the few countries where the women match the men - Croatia, Ireland, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden are the others. Meanwhile, the UK's men are near the bottom - at 27 per cent, barely half the world average.

In the past 30 years, the proportion of Britons who smoke has fallen. But the level is edging up in some groups, such as young women. And smoking starts early - while only one in 100 English 11- year-olds smokes regularly, one in five 15-year-olds does.

None the less, despite 70 per cent of smokers saying that they want to give up, few succeed.