Figures released on Thursday by Statistics Jersey revealed that the amount of tobacco imported into the Island had more than halved since 2006
Dr Rhona Reardon, lead nurse and co-ordinator of the Help2Quit service, said large price increases had helped bring the number of regular smokers down.
She said: ‘To go from a quarter of adults in 2005 smoking to 15% now is great news.
‘We had the tobacco strategy put in place in 2017 and a number of things have helped within that. The stop-smoking service is just one of the reasons for the drop.
‘The fact there has been advertising bans and youngsters aren’t able to see them in shops are two reasons.
‘And the price is something that puts people off now – a packet is almost £10, I believe.We have also widened the Help2Quit service which is available in a total of 22 pharmacies.’
The amount of tobacco brought into the Island has reduced by 56% since 2006, while the percentage of the population who smoke was at a similar level to that of the UK.
In 2019, around 7% of people were using electronic cigarettes, with 33% of Year 10 students admitting having tried using them at least once.
A total of 440 successfully quit smoking through Help2Quit last year, representing a success rate of 50%, which is a similar number to the five previous years. Around 15% of all deaths in Jersey in 2018 were attributed to smoking, along with a third being attributed to conditions that can be caused by smoking.
A total of 890 hospital admissions were attributed to smoking, representing 3% of all admissions, and 30% of admissions were down to conditions that could be caused by smoking.
