Number of smokers falling

Smoking is set to drop below 20 per cent for the first time in a century, according to a study by University College London.

An ongoing survey of tobacco use is expected to show the turning point being crossed by the end of this year.

The proportion of smokers in England dipped as low as 20.1 per cent in 2011, when the last yearly results from the survey were published, but never quite reached the 'psychologically significant' 20 per cent watermark. 

Researchers plan to publish more figures at the end of this year.

Unless there is a highly unlikely U-turn in the current trend, they will show that less than a fifth of people in England now smoke.