Standing view · health · Tunbridge Wells
improving, held with strong confidence, formed on 31 August 2026 from movements in 2025.
Adult smoking in Tunbridge Wells rose to 18.3% in 2023, then fell sharply to 6.82% in 2024, and deaths before the age of 75 fell to 245.69 per 100,000 residents in 2024. The two most recent readings are both favourable, which is why the direction reads as improving, but a change of that size in the smoking estimate between two consecutive years rests on a small survey sample rather than on a real shift.
A view is formed only where the evidence names a figure you can check. Each movement listed as a reason had to be large enough to matter and distinctive in at least one way — unusual against this area's own history, unusual against comparable areas, or sustained over several periods. A movement shared with peers counts for less, because it says something about the country rather than about Tunbridge Wells. Where no figure supports a direction we hold no view rather than a hedged one.
| Measure | Period | Direction |
|---|---|---|
| Adults who smoke | 2023 | deteriorating |
| Adults who smoke | 2024 | improving |
| Deaths before age 75, per 100,000 | 2024 | improving |