Smoking on the rise in Ipswich despite fall across the UK
Around a fifth of people in the town are smokers
The proportion of smokers in Ipswich is on the rise despite rates elsewhere in the UK falling to record lows.
Nationally, figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that 13.3% of people aged 18 and over in the UK smoked cigarettes in 2021, the equivalent of around 6.6 million people.
This is the lowest proportion of current smokers since records started in 2011, when it stood at 20.2%.
However in Ipswich there was a jump in the proportion of smokers between 2020 and 2021.
22% of people reported being smokers in 2021, up from 18.9% in 2020.
There was also a rise in Mid Suffolk, where the proportion of over 18s smoking is up to 11.7% from 8.2%.
However there were big falls in the rates of smoking elsewhere in the county.
In West Suffolk 10.6% of people reported being regular smokers in 2021, down from 15.4% just a year before.
Rates in East Suffolk fell to 12.1%. In Babergh they fell to 9.8%.
The ONS said that vaping devices such as e-cigarettes have played a "major role" in reducing the prevalence of smoking across the UK.
It added that the proportion of vapers was highest among current cigarette smokers (25.3%) and ex-cigarette smokers (15.0%), with only 1.5% of people who have never smoked reporting that they currently vape.
But it added that policies associated with the tobacco control plan for England, such as increased public awareness campaigns and smoke free places, may have also contributed to decreased smoking prevalence.
The Government's tobacco control plan aims to reduce smoking prevalence among adults in England to 12% or less by the end of 2022.
Men were more likely to be current smokers in 2021, with 15.1% of men smoking compared with 11.5% of women in the UK.
People aged 25 to 34 years had the highest proportion of current smokers at 15.8%, the ONS said, while those aged 65 and over had the lowest at 8.0%.