Smoking and Tobacco

Is Cigarette Smoking a Problem?

Yes! There are over 47 million adults in the United States who smoke cigarettes or about 1 in every 4 adults. In addition, about 3,000 adolescents begin to smoke cigarettes each day and there are about 4 million youth ages 12 to 17 who are smokers.

The good news is that there are fewer cigarette smokers in our country than 30 years ago - or even 5 years ago. But we need to do better and there are differences in the percentage of people who smoke in different groups.

For example, persons with less education are more likely to smoke cigarettes than persons who have more than a high school education.
Individuals below the poverty level are much more likely to smoke than individuals at or above the poverty level (29.1% compared to 20.6%).
There is a wide range of cigarette smoking from 10.5% in adults in Utah to almost 28% in Kentucky, as indicated in the graph below.

Smoking Trend Graph

Smoking rates among adult African Americans and whites are similar, but the majority of black smokers choose menthol cigarettes and this may change the exposure to the cigarette and its ingredients.

For More Information

Menthol Cigarettes: Greater Threat to Women (Video)

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Last Reviewed: Mar 27, 2006

Karen L Ahijevych, PhD, RN, FAAN
Professor at The College of Nursing
Professor at The College of Public Health
Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
College of Nursing
The Ohio State University