The Black Country borough bucks trend with more tobacco smokers - full list of smoking rates for the West Midlands, Shropshire and Staffordshire
Smoking rates across the West Midlands have continued to fall, with most local areas reporting a drop in the proportion of adults who smoke - apart from one Black Country borough
The latest figures show a reduction in tobacco use in most areas - apart from Sandwell which has the highest cigarette smoking rate in the region at 16.6%, rising slightly from 16.3% last year.
Lichfield, while still having the lowest rate at 7.4%, also saw a small increase of just over one percentage point.
Most other areas recorded declines. Telford & Wrekin, Powys, Shropshire, and Stafford saw the biggest drops, each falling by more than a percentage point.
Larger cities such as Birmingham and Stoke-on-Trent also improved slightly, with smoking rates down by around half a percentage point.
But while cigarette use is lowering, the national figures show that he number of people who vape has overtaken the number who smoke for the first time.
