As electronic cigarettes rise to all time highs in the UK, smoking rates are lower than experts have seen in more than 70 years. This week, a new study revealed that only 18.7 percent of adults are still smoking, marking the lowest smoking population since the 1940’s.

Researchers at the Office for National Statistics (ONS) urged people to hold back on celebrations just yet, suggesting that new methods for collecting data could at least partially alter the results. However, it’s clear that Britain’s smokers are choosing a different path and many of them are turning to vaping.

ONS also revealed that men are far more likely to be tobacco users than women, with 21.1 percent of men still lighting up, while only 16.5 percent of women report cigarette use. Today’s generation is a mix on former smokers and those that have never used tobacco. Around half of those surveyed said they had never smoked, but a third claimed that they were previous smokers that had kicked the habit.

In contrast, during the 1940’s, surveys showed that more than half of UK adults were smokers with two-thirds of men regularly lighting up. According to official data, female smoking peaked in the late 1960’s. By 1974, ONS was doing formal surveys and the first study showed that 45 percent of Brits were smokers.

The most recent study paints a different picture, with smoking rates down to just over 18 percent. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt responded to the good news through his Twitter account. “Those ONS statistics show that the number of smokers is at its lowest level ever,” he reported. “It’s never to late to stop.”

ASH also responded to the new data with positive remarks. Chief Executive Deborah Arnott said, “This statistically significant decline in adult smokers shows that the government’s tobacco control plan is working. However, over 80,000 people still die from smoking every year in England and every week hundreds of children take up smoking,” she said.

Arnott said that even with promising results, the work is not over for tobacco control activists. “We urge the government to waste no time in allowing parliament to vote on the regulations which will finally get rid of glitzy, glamorous cigarette packs forever.”

While some ecig critics have expressed concern that vaping would only lead to increased tobacco use, this recent data shows that the fears are unfounded. Vaping seems to be having a positive impact on the British culture with smokers turning away from tobacco faster than ever before.