Children's smoking
This chapter describes smoking among children aged 8-15. It also presents information on where children aged 0-15 were exposed to other people’s tobacco smoke. We cover adult smoking in a separate chapter.
Highlights
Smoking status
- Among children aged 8-15, 8% of boys and 7% of girls reported that they had ever smoked a cigarette.
- Only 1% of children aged 8-15 reported that they were regular smokers, smoking at least one cigarette per week. This was higher among older children: 4% of boys aged 15 and 6% of girls aged 15 reported smoking regularly.
Region
- Among boys, the proportion who had ever smoked was lowest in the North West at 4% and highest in the North East at 16%.
- Among girls, the proportion who had ever smoked was lowest in the East Midlands and London at 3% and highest in the West Midlands and the East of England at 12%.
Exposure to second hand smoke
- Among children aged 0-15, the mean number of hours per week exposed to others’ smoke decreased from 2.6 hours for boys and 2.7 hours for girls in 2007-2008 to 1.0 hour for boys and 1.2 hours for girls in 2011-2013.
- For both sexes, the average number of hours spent exposed to other people’s smoke increased with age.
- Children from lower income households were more likely to be exposed to secondhand smoke.