Number of North East smokers falls to lowest ever levels
New figures show that the North East has seen a fall in adult smokingrates - with levels now down to the lowest on record.
The Annual Population Survey (APS)1 shows that the number of people smoking in the region fell to 18.7% in 2015 from 19.8% in 2014.
The APS shows the rate of smoking across England in those aged 18 and over fell to 16.9% nationally, down from 17.8% in 2014
There has been an overall decline of 7.1% since 2005