Smoking rates have fallen sharply across Mid Wales over the past decade, with Powys recording a particularly substantial decline, new figures reveal.

An analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data found the proportion of adults smoking in Powys fell from an average of 16.8 percent between 2012 and 2016 to 9.1 percent between 2021 and 2025. The 45.8 percent reduction was considerably greater than the national average and the largest of the three counties examined.

Ceredigion also recorded a substantial decline, with smoking rates falling from 16.8 percent to 10.6 percent, representing a 36.9 percent reduction.

In Gwynedd, the proportion dropped from 19.7 percent to 13.8 percent, a decrease of 29.9 percent, although smoking remains more prevalent there than in either neighbouring county.

Across Wales, smoking fell by 37.2 percent over the same periods, compared with a UK-wide reduction of 38 percent. The figures were analysed by online vaping retailer Ecigone, which compared five-year averages to account for relatively small annual survey samples.

Its analysis found clear reductions in smoking across 202 of the 205 council areas examined in England, Scotland and Wales.

Ecigone founder Shane Margereson said the decline coincided with the growing popularity of vaping as a means of quitting cigarettes. "Nobody can say exactly how much of the fall is down to that, because tax rises, plain packs and stop smoking services have all played a part, but the timing is hard to ignore," he said.

The latest ONS figures estimate that 4.9 million UK adults smoked in 2025, representing 9.8 percent of the population.

Although the figures demonstrate a sustained downward trend, they cannot establish how much of the reduction can be attributed to vaping or individual tobacco control measures.