The number of cigarettes smoked in England in one year has decreased by over one billion, BBC reported.

Between 2011 and 2018 the average monthly cigarette consumption in England fell by a quarter, according to analysis from Cancer Research UK. This equated to around 118 million fewer cigarettes being smoked every month. The study also found that in England only 14 per cent of people over the age of 18 smoke, a decrease of 5 per cent since 2011, the BBC reported.
The UK government plan to eradicate smoking by 2030 and Cancer Research described the results of this study as “heading in the right direction.” Researchers from University College London’s Tobacco and Alcohol Research Group were responsible for conducting the study. They analysed cigarette sales data, as well as the results from the Smoking Toolkit Study, a monthly study that examines the smoking habits of 135,000 men and women.
The analysis found that the average number of cigarettes smoked every month had decreased by 26 per cent, from 3.4 billion to 2.5 billion. Dr Sarah Jackson, who led the study, was quoted as saying, “The decline in national cigarette consumption has been dramatic and exceeded the decline in smoking prevalence, which, over the same time period, was around 15 per cent. This means that not only are fewer people smoking, but those who continue to smoke are smoking less.”