US Adult Smoking Rates Drops Below 17 Percent
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Wavebreakmedia Ltd/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Cigarette smoking among Americans has hit a historic low, according to preliminary data released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics.
Through the first three months of 2015, the CDC estimates that 15.2 percent of American adults over the age of 18 are current smokers. For the purposes of the survey, current smokers were considered adults who had reported smoking more than 100 cigarettes in their lifetime and now smoke every day or some days.
Figures for 2014 showed 16.8 percent of surveyed Americans were current smokers, continuing a downward trend. In 1997, 24.7 percent of American adults were considered current smokers. The percent of smokers has dropped every year since 2010.
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