The Annual Price of Smoking Has Risen by £1,266 in the Last Decade

British smokers are now burning through an average of £3,092 a year, nearly double that of 10 years ago, when it cost £1,826 to fuel the habit.

A recent report by Electric Tobacconist has revealed that chain-smokers could save themselves £2.5k annually by making the switch to refillable vapes.

Experts at Electric Tobacconist analysed the UKs smoking and vaping habits, including how much the average smoker consumes, the average cigarette vs vape cost per year, and which region has the most smokers.

Key findings:

• The average smoker spends £3,092 a year on cigarettes, which equates to £8.47 a day

• Smokers could save an average of £2,580 a year by switching to vaping with reusable vapes

• The annual price of smoking has risen by £1,266 in the last 10 years

The North East has the highest proportion of smokers (14.7%), with over 391k smokers in its total 2.6 million population. The North East spends £1,212,084,809 annually on smoking, and could save just over £1 billion if every smoker switched to refillable vapes.

The city of Middlesbrough boasts the highest number of smokers in the North East (17.9%), with Darlington boasting the least (10.6%).

The North West ranks second, spending £123.28 per 100 population each day on average, and along with the South East, has the highest average annual spend of any region of £3.3 billion on cigarettes. 

Burnley (21.2%), Blackpool (20.6%), and Rossendale (20.9%) have the highest number of smokers in the North West.

Ranking third is Wales, with 14.5% of the population regularly smoking, equating to £122.59 spent on cigarettes every day, per 100 Welsh. Blaenau Gwent (19.2%) has the highest number of smokers, with Monmouthshire (10.3%) having the lowest.

Surprisingly, Londoners are the least likely to pick up the habit with only 11.6% of its residents smoking, but its population still spends over £3.2 billion annually on cigarettes. If every smoker in London were to switch to refillable vapes, the region would save £2.6 billion annually.

How much has Britain spent on smoking in the last decade?

The average smoker spends £8.47 a day on cigarettes. Whilst the average number of cigarettes consumed by Britain per day has decreased in the last decade, the annual price of smoking has risen by £1,266, with each cigarette costing an average of £0.79 today, compared to £0.44 in 2015. 

With 13.3% of Brits smoking regularly, a whopping average of £26.9 billion is spent annually on cigarettes, which could be reduced massively, by £22.5 billion if every smoker turned to refillable vapes.

The average cost of using refillable vapes per year is £511, meaning that smokers could save an average of £2,580.55 per year if they were to switch.