* From 2001 the definition of ex-smoker was 'ever smoked more than 100 cigarettes but now no longer smoke'. This includes people who have only ever smoked less than daily.
Table 7.2.1 shows a small decline in the percentage of ex-smokers since 2001, suggesting that increases in the percentage of people not taking up smoking in the first place (‘never’ smokers) rather than increases in the number of people quitting (‘ex-smokers’) might have been most important in reducing the prevalence of current smoking. However it should be noted that the proportion of ex-smokers would also be declining due to mortality among the generation born prior to 1930, many of whom were smokers as young adults but who quit over subsequent decades.
The final column of Table 7.2.1 also sets out the proportion of ever smokers who have quit. A change in definition of ex-smokers in 2001 makes it difficult to be certain, but it appears that the proportion of ever smokers who have quit was more than fifty percent higher in 2016 than it was in 1991. Figure 7.2.1 shows this trend since 2001.
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