[Smoking in Adolescence in England and Germany, 2001 - 2016]

To describe the smoking behavior of adolescents from England and Germany over a period of 15 years.

Eleven repeated cross-sectional surveys involving a total of 107,485 persons aged 11 to 15 years were carried out between 2001 and 2016 in England and Germany. The following data were assessed: a) the relative proportion of young people who ever smoked a conventional tobacco product, and b) the relative proportion of adolescents, who were current smokers, i. e. teenagers who smoked "occasionally" or "constantly" or "regularly".

In the observational period, there was a significant stronger reduction in the proportion of young people who ever smoked in Germany (from 52 % to 10 %) compared to England (from 44 % to 19 %). In the same period, the proportion of young people who smoked currently dropped by 16 percentage points to 3 % in Germany and by 12 percentage points to 7 % in England (no significant difference).

Data indicate a stronger trend towards never smoking in Germany compared to England, and a similar falling trend on "current" smoking in both countries. Causal conclusions are not possible due to the study design.