TODAY’s children are drinking and smoking less than any generation before them, NHS figures show.
Generation Alpha — those born since 2010 — have record-low use of ciggies and alcohol but vaping is booming.
Just three per cent of children aged eight to 15 in 2022 had tried a cigarette, compared with 19 per cent of those the same age in 1997.
Only 14 per cent admitted drinking alcohol — down by two thirds on the 45 per cent who had boozed in 2003.
Although the downturn is being seen as good for our youngsters, they may face other risks from new habits.
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One in eight — 12 per cent — has used an e-cigarette, with more recent research suggesting it is one in five. The obesity rate in 11-year-olds is up from 17.5 per cent in 2006 to 23 per cent in 2023.
About half of children do not get enough exercise, according to the NHS’ Health Survey for England.
Prof Steve Turner, president of the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, called cigarette use decline in children “heartening”.
But he warned the rise of e-cigarettes meant there was no room for complacency.
Prof Amelia Lake, public health expert at Teesside University, believes lockdown has changed children’s lives.
She said: “They were locked up in their house with a screen, so their world is quite different to children from not that long ago.”
The survey of 10,000 adults and children also found three out of ten men and one in five women drunk potentially harmful amounts of alcohol.
