A drive to stop young people in Suffolk from smoking was labelled a major priority last night as new figures emerged showing one in five people in the county are currently smoking.

The rise – from 18.5% of the population in 2013 to 20.2% the following year – was detailed in a new report which also shows 10% of mums in the county smoke up until delivery.

The news comes as Suffolk County Council, which is responsible for public health, continues to invest millions of pounds in tobacco companies for its pension fund.

But officials at the authority claimed the rise may be due to Waveney being added into the figures in 2014 – and the way the figures are put together, through ‘integrated household surveys’, means that they can fluctuate.

However, the data reveals Suffolk is still lagging behind in terms of the England average of smokers, which stood at 18% in 2014, and the East of England average, which was 17.9% for that year.

A spokeswoman for the authority added: “Our providers have supported many thousands of people to quit smoking over the past few years, but this is only part of the answer. The priority for health and wellbeing partners is to create an environment in which young people do not take up smoking in the first place, and that we prevent the harm and long-term damage associated with smoking by creating smoke-free homes and cars.

“Tobacco use is the single most preventable cause of ill health in the UK which is why we are making this a long term priority to create a tobacco free county.”

On the issue of one in 10 pregnant women smoking, Dr Mary Orhewere, consultant for Public Health Suffolk, said: “Pregnant women can give their babies the best start in life by ensuring their child has the best environment before they are born. Smoking in pregnancy and being very overweight can have negative effects on a child’s health.”

The report has been published ahead of a Suffolk health and wellbeing board meeting next week – and in addition to smoking prevalence, it also shows that the habit costs the county’s economy £165.9million each year and results in 6,881 hospital admissions.

It also comes a year after the council and health board adopted its vision for a smoke-free Suffolk.

As part of this, a number of initiatives have been put in place, including setting up a small youth commission which aims to engage with young people around smoking.

And stop-smoking services commissioned by the council have led to roughly half of participants quitting from 2012/13 to 2014/15.

One of the organisations working to help smokers in Suffolk kick the habit is Live Well Suffolk.

Figures from the organisation show that between April 2014 and March 2015, 5,262 people accessed its stop smoking service, with 2,552 of those confirmed as having quit.

Live Well Suffolk director, Steven Lee-Foster, said: “We have supported thousands of residents across the county to stop smoking over the past five years, but these [Suffolk smoking] figures show that one in five people still smoke.

“National No Smoking Day, on Wednesday, March 9, is an ideal opportunity for people to kick the habit once and for all and we’ll be on hand to give free support to anyone who wants to quit.”