Scottish Government urged to act on ‘alarmingly high’ smoking death figures

Health campaigners called for greater investment in stopping smoking as “alarmingly high” figures on deaths and hospital admissions attributed to tobacco use were published.

Charity Ash Scotland said the same amount of cash should be spent on tackling the problem as goes on combating alcohol and drugs.

Chief executive Sheila Duffy said: “Tobacco continues to be the biggest preventable killer in Scotland and continues to kill more people every year than alcohol, drugs, fires, homicide and suicide combined.

“It is astonishing that so little resource is allocated to tackling this public health emergency.”

Figures from Public Health Scotland showed the number of deaths attributed to smoking fell, with an estimated 7,085 deaths in 2024, down from 7,276 the previous year.

But, while the smoking death rate was 39% lower than it was in 2008, the rate of deaths is nearly five times higher in the poorest parts of Scotland compared to the richest.

Scotland’s rate of deaths attributed to smoking was 204 per 100,000 of the population in 2024 – down from 334 in 2008.

However, the latest figures showed the rate was 4.7 times higher in the most-deprived areas compared with the least-deprived areas.

That gap has widened, with the 2008 data showing the death rate was 3.2 times higher in the poorest areas when compared with the least-deprived parts of the country.

In 2024, there were an estimated 647 deaths attributable to smoking in the most affluent communities, with a death rate of 87 per 100,000.

But, in the most deprived areas, there were an estimated 2,336 deaths that were attributable to smoking, with a rate of 412 deaths per 100,000 people.

The figures also showed that, between 2008 and 2024, rates for smoking-attributable deaths in the least-deprived areas fell by 51%, but in the most-deprived communities the reduction was 27%.

The data also revealed a fall in hospital admissions attributable to smoking, with the rate for these 36% lower than it was in 2008.

In 2024 there were an estimated 38,675 smoking‑attributable hospital admissions – with a rate of 1,107 admissions per 100,000 population.

However, the admissions rate was 4.4 times higher in the most deprived areas than it was in the least deprived areas – with this up from 3.4 in 2008.

Insisting the figures were “alarmingly high”, Ms Duffy said: “It is essential for the health of people, especially in our poorest communities, that the new Scottish Government administration demonstrates strong political will and decisive leadership in prioritising actions and investments to tackle tobacco-related harms and the resulting huge inequalities.”

She added: “Ash Scotland is calling on the Scottish Government to invest more in the tobacco and nicotine policy space to attain at least parity with the funding and resources that are dedicated to preventing harms from alcohol and drugs, and drive quicker progress towards Scotland becoming a tobacco-free nation.”

A Scottish Government spokesperson noted that smoking rates have almost halved in Scotland since 2008, with NHS smoking cessation services provided free across the country and with more than 30,000 quit attempts recorded with such help between April 2024 to March 2025.

In addition to this, the spokesperson pointed out the Tobacco and Vapes Act 2026 will mean that no one born after January 1, 2009 can ever legally purchase tobacco.