The Scottish Government

Rate of smoking in adults.

Associated Targets

Reduce the percentage of the adult population who smoke to 22% by 2010.

Brief Description

The proportion of adults aged 16+ years who are current smokers. Reducing rates of adult smoking has high public and political profile.

Strategic Objective(s) to Which Indicator Relates

This indicator informs progress in relation to the Healthier Strategic Objective.

More Detailed Definitions

Definitions of Keywords

Current smoker is based on self-reporting in response to the following question:

QDo you smoke cigarettes nowadays?

AYes; No

Adults are defined as those aged 16 years and over.

Evidence Source

Data source: Scottish Household Survey

This is taken as a direct measurement of the percentage replying to the question set out above.

Baseline and Past Trends

Baseline value (2006): 25.0%

Further data is available on Scotland Performs (2007 data published July 2008).

Methodology for Data Source

Sample survey data.

The proportion smoking is the proportion of respondents answering 'yes' when asked if they smoke cigarettes nowadays.

The annual denominator population for the Scottish Household Survey is approximately 14,000 adults aged 16+ years.

Data Ownership and Quality Assurance

The source is a National Statistics output.

Publication of Data

There are regular Annual Reports, Bulletins and Topic Reports arising from the Scottish Household Survey which can be freely accessed on the Scottish Government website:

http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/Statistics/16002/

Methodology for Recent Change Arrow on Scotland

This evaluation is based on: any difference within +/- 0.5 percentage points of last year's figure suggests that the position is more likely to be maintaining than showing any change. A decrease of 0.5 percentage points or more suggests the position is improving; whereas an increase of 0.5 percentage points or more suggests the position is worsening.