Buckinghamshire's smoking rate has fallen by almost 30% in a decade

Fewer than one in ten adults in Buckinghamshire smoked in recent years, a lower rate than most English cities.

placeholder image — Buckinghamshire's smoking rate has fallen by almost 30% in a decade | Unsplash

Around 8.6% of adults in the county smoked between 2023 and 2025, down from 12.1% in 2014 to 2016.

My Health Protected ranked 44 English cities on how much their smoking rate has fallen (70%) and how high it remains (30%). As a county, Bucks was not included, but on the same basis it would have one of the lowest smoking rates, with just seven cities lower.

The county's rate fell by 29.5%, slower than most cities in the study. Scored the same way, Bucks would sit around 30th, among the places making less progress. As with Winchester, which came last, a rate that started low had less room to fall.

Milton Keynes, next door, made the top 10 after cutting its rate by 43%.

The English cities making the most progress in cutting smoking are: