The report calls on the government to introduce tough new measures to protect children and reduce inequalities in its new tobacco control plan, due to be released later this year.
Health inequalities created by smoking among young people have deepened over the last 30 years, with those from lower socio-economic groups more likely to be life-long smokers.
The report includes measures to help a further 4.5 million smokers quit by 2015 including: plain packaging for all tobacco products, prohibiting the display of tobacco products in shops, clamping down on smuggling and access to safer non-tobacco alternatives.
Jo Butcher, assistant director of health, wellbeing and environment at NCB, said: "We support Ash's recommendations. We hope to see more community-wide initiatives to tackle smoking among young people and more creative 'stop smoking' services to engage disadvantaged young people. If we want children and young people to stop smoking and, even better, not to start in the first place, we need to improve anti-smoking education."
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