NEW figures show the North-East has seen the biggest drop in smokers in the country - with fewer people in the region now smoking than ever before.

The proportion of North-East smokers fell from 22.3 per cent in 2013 down to 19.9 per cent in 2014.

There are now 165,000 fewer smokers in the North East than there were in 2005, when 29 per cent of people smoked.

Professor Kevin Fenton, National Director of Health and Wellbeing, Public Health England: said: “This significant drop in North-East smoking rates is a credit to the hard work and commitment of local organisations who have come together to reduce the devastating harm caused by smoking.

"Our ultimate goal is a smokefree nation and the North-East provides a model for the rest of the country in how working in partnership and focusing on this shared goal can make a difference to real lives.”

Lisa Surtees, acting director of Fresh Smoke Free North East, said: "It is the first time our smoking rates have ever dropped under 20 per cent and shows the North-East has had the biggest fall of any English region since 2005.

“But around 417,000 people still smoke in our region and one in two will die from a smoking related disease unless they quit.”

Councillor Nick Forbes, chair of the Making Smoking History in the North East Partnership, said: "The North East is no longer the region with the highest smoking prevalence and I am incredibly proud of the progress we have made.

"We have set a vision of reducing smoking rates to five per cent which is a clear statement from councils, the NHS and CCGs that the North-East wants to end the burden caused by smoking, which still affects poorer families and people with mental health issues the most."