Tobacco use: young people smoking

By age and gender

The Scottish Schools Adolescent Lifestyle and Substance Use Survey (SALSUS) provides estimates of the proportion of under-16s in school who smoke, drink alcohol and/or use illegal drugs. Detailed data tables are available on the SALSUS webpage and UK Data Service.

In the most recent survey, carried out in 2018, it was estimated that 2% of 13-year-olds and 7% of 15-year-olds were regular smokers (usually smoking one or more cigarettes a week). This is the lowest prevalence observed since the survey began in Scotland in 1990 (Chart 1 (13Kb)). In 2018, there was no significant difference in the prevalence of regular smoking for between boys and girls, at 4%.

Since 2002, there has been an increase in the proportion of pupils (of both ages and genders) who were ‘Non-smokers’ (those who had never smoked or were not current smokers).

• In 2018, 97% of 13-year-olds reported that they had never smoked (the same as in 2015), compared to 87% in 2013, 79% in 2010 and 53% in 2002.
• Nearly three quarters (70%) of 15-year-olds reported that they had never smoked in 2018, compared to 88% in 2015, 66% in 2013, increasing from 55% in 2010 and from 36% in 2002.
• 29% of 15-year-olds who regularly smoke would like to give up, 34% did not want to give up, while the remaining 37% did not know if they wanted to give up.

Further profile and trend analysis is available on the Scottish Government website.

SALSUS has since been replaced by the Health and Wellbeing Census Scotland (HWCS). The first and most recent report of the HWCS (2021/22) reports that 1.6% of 13-year-olds and 4.3% of 15-year-olds were regular smokers.

Stop Smoking

Information on young people who access Stop Smoking services in Scotland can be drawn from the annual Stop Smoking statistics published by PHS (2021/22). In the financial year 2021/22, 53 young people under 16 tried to quit smoking, a figure that has decreased over the years from 739 recorded in 2011/12.

There were 163 young people in the age groups under 16 and 16-17 who attempted to quit smoking (compared to 2,185 in 2011/12).

19% of the under 16s, and 18% of 16-17-year-olds had successfully quit smoking by 12 weeks These quit rates were an improvement from 3%, in each group, in 2011/12.

European comparison

The Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) survey allows smoking prevalence in young people to be compared across 41 countries and regions which all use a standard methodology. The target population is school attenders aged 11, 13 and 15 years, and the most recent survey for which results are currently available was carried out in 2013/14. Charts 2 and 3 below compare smoking prevalence among 15-year-old boys and girls across selected EU countries.

Chart 2 (15Kb) shows that smoking prevalence among boys (11%) was lower in Scotland than most of the other EU countries (EU average = 12%), though seven countries (Sweden, Ireland, Wales, Portugal, Flemish Belgium, Spain and England) had a lower prevalence. The prevalence of smoking among boys in Scotland had fallen from 14% in 2009/10.

Chart 3 (14Kb) shows that the position in relation to girls was similar. In 2013/14, 10% of 15-year-old girls in Scotland were current smokers compared with an EU average of 15%. The prevalence of smoking among girls in Scotland had fallen from 23% in 2006.