What it means: the share of people who tell the Crime Survey for England and Wales they used an illegal drug in the previous year. Cannabis is by far the most common (6.5%); Class A drugs, such as cocaine and ecstasy, are the fainter dotted line. In 1995 the figure was 11.2%. Use among 16 to 24 year olds (fainter solid line) is much higher than for all ages and has fallen since 2019-20. People may not report all their drug use, and the survey misses people not living in households, so the true figures are likely higher. There was no survey in 2020-21 or 2021-22. A change of half a point or more on the previous survey counts.

Source: ONS, drug misuse in England and Wales, appendix tables, year ending March 2025, tables 1.02 and 1.08.