Vital Statistics

Smoking among teenagers has fallen again in the past year - but official figures from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) show that levels of drug use have risen and that consumption of alcohol has remained constant*. There was a decline in the proportion of pupils who drank alcohol between 1996 and 1998, but this trend has come to a standstill, at least for the time being.

The survey of schoolchildren aged between 11 and 15 showed that 9 per cent smoked regularly in the year in question, compared to 11 per cent the previous year. This is significantly down on the 13 per cent of young people who said they smoked regularly in a similar survey in 1996. This indicates that the decline is real and not merely a short-term blip.

However, 12 per cent had used drugs in the past twelve months - a one per cent increase on the figures for 1998.

Over nine thousand pupils in 340 schools were interviewed by the ONS during the autumn of 1999 and questioned about their use of drugs and alcohol and about their smoking habits. It emerged that more girls than boys smoked, with 10 per cent of them having at least one cigarette a week, compared to 8 per cent of their male peers. Although only 1 per cent of 11-year-olds smoke, something approaching 25 per cent of 15-year-olds regularly light up.

Despite the mixed message of these statistics, health ministers welcomed the drop, which was announced on World No Tobacco Day. The government recently stated its intention to reduce the number of smokers by 1.5 million over the next decade. The target for teenage smoking is to reduce the overall figure for 11 to 15 year olds to 11 per cent by 2005 and to 9 per cent by 2010.

The ONS's figures indicate that the figure has already been achieved for the younger teenagers, up to 40 per cent of older teenagers still smoke.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "These figures show that the smoking rates are heading in the right direction, but we know we can't be complacent about this.

"We need to continue with health prevention measures and enforcement of the law to make sure young teenagers cannot buy cigarettes."

The figures for drug use show similar differences by age, with just 1 per cent of 11-year-olds using illegal substances in the last year, compared to a third of 15-year-olds. Cannabis was the most popular illicit drug, with 11 per cent of pupils admitting to taking the drug in the twelve months covered by the survey.

The next most commonly used substances - glue, gas and "poppers" - had only been used by 2 per cent of youngsters. Glue-sniffing, which rarely receives the publicity given to more high-profile drugs like heroin or cocaine, has the highest first-use mortality level.

Over a third of all the pupils and 62 per cent of 15-year-olds said they had been offered drugs.

20 per cent of the pupils said they had had an alcoholic drink in the last week, a figure unchanged from 1999.

*Young Teenage Smoking in 1998: A report of the key findings from the Teenage Smoking Attitudes. Survey carried out in England in 1998. (The biennial report was this time extended to include alcohol and drugs.)