Fewer people have tried to give up smoking in England during the recession than did so before, reports BBC News.

In 2007 – before the recession – about 32 per cent of smokers said they had tried to quit within the past three months. This had fallen to 23 per cent by 2008 and 22 per cent by 2009, but latest figures up to 2010 show only 17 per cent have attempted to quit, says Cancer Research UK.
Professor Robert West, director of tobacco studies at the Cancer Research UK Health Behaviour Research Centre, has been tracking the number of smokers and their quitting patterns in England since November 2006, before the ban on smoking in enclosed public places came into force in England in July 2007. (pi)