Discover Major Findings Relating to Smoking in Scotland

Smoking in Scotland is the portal through which major findings from the Smoking Toolkit Study and other national data are made available to policy makers, clinicians, researchers, journalists and the general public. You can keep up to date with our RSS feed or by signing up to our mailing list.

Annual trends on smoking in Scotland from the Smoking Toolkit Study

Vera Buss, Robert West, Dimitra Kale, Loren Kock, Jamie Brown

Updated: 18 January 2024

Next update: January 2025

See key below.

See key below; NB some percentages do not sum to 100 due to rounding of weighted data.

Support for tobacco control policies: Key

Ban = Ban the sale of cigarettes and tobacco products to everyone born after a certain year from 2030 onwards

T21 = Raising the legal age of sale of cigarettes and tobacco from 18 to 21

Industry fund = Requiring the tobacco industry to pay into a fund to address problems caused by tobacco (e.g. health, environmental, etc.)

Industry disclose = Requiring the tobacco industry to publically disclose business information relevant to its activities (such as sales data, details of lobbying and marketing)

Retailer license = Requiring anyone selling tobacco to have a licence which can be removed if they sell to those under-age

Tax = Increasing tax on cigarettes and tobacco substantially above the annual rate of inflation (e.g. tax on cigarettes could increase by up to 10%)

Health warnings = Requiring health warnings on cigarette sticks and rolling tobacco papers

Support to quit = Ensuring that every smoker who wants it can get support that is clinically proven to help stop smoking 

Government spend = Restoring government spending on anti-smoking advertising campaigns to historically high levels

Ban in homes with children = Banning smoking in homes with children

EC on prescription = Making e-cigarettes available on prescription as a stop-smoking aid for adult smokers

EC advertising = Restricting e-cigarette advertising to prevent uptake by young people

Retailer numbers = Reducing the number of retailers selling cigarettes and tobacco in neighbourhoods with a high density of tobacco retailers

Retail near schools = Restricting the sale of cigarettes and tobacco in close proximity to schools