§ Lord Stoddart of Swindonasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is their latest estimate of the percentage of the population who indulge in all forms of smoking.
§ Baroness Jay of PaddingtonIt is estimated that in 1994 in Great Britain, 29 per cent. of the population aged 16 and above smoked.
The following table shows trends from 1984 to 1994.
Ischaemic Heart Disease
Cerebrovascular Disease
Aortic Aneurysm
Atherosclerosis
Myocardial degeneration
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Pneumonia
Ulcer of stomach and duodenum
The following table shows the estimated age at death.
Number of deaths1 Age Male Female Total 35–54 6,000 2,000 9,000 55–64 12,000 5,000 17,000 65–74 27,000 15,000 42,000 75+ 32,000 21,000 53,000 Total 78,000 43,000 121,000 1Rounded to nearest thousand deaths. Totals may not sum due to rounding. The proportion of the 120,000 people who died who were smokers at the time of death is not known: such information not recorded on the death certificate and analysis is not available at individual death level.
173WAThe table shows that about 32,000 of the male deaths were at an age above the average life expectancy for men of 74 years and an estimated 15,000 of the female deaths were at an age above the average life expectancy for women of 79.
It is estimated that 19 per cent. of the total number of deaths in the UK in 1995 were caused by smoking (120,000 deaths in UK in 1995 were due to smoking compared with a total of number of deaths of 642,000).