--- title: Fewer U.S. Adults Smoke Than Ever Before, Data Shows description: The U.S. adult smoking rate hit an all-time low of 14% in 2017, according to data from the National Center for Health Statistics. canonical: https://time.com/5315907/smoking-rate-all-time-low/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-19T15:04:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-12T19:14:05.000Z article:section: Health og:title: Fewer U.S. Adults Smoke Than Ever Before, Data Shows og:description: Smoking rates hit 14% last year og:url: https://time.com/5315907/smoking-rate-all-time-low/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf74f274883cf2abb/6988f662bc6cfc49943e47d4/mn13.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Close-Up Of Man Holding Cigarette og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Fewer U.S. Adults Smoke Than Ever Before, Data Shows twitter:description: Smoking rates hit 14% last year twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf74f274883cf2abb/6988f662bc6cfc49943e47d4/mn13.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Fewer American Adults Are Smoking Than Ever Before  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:14 PM UTCPublished: Jun 19, 2018 3:04 PM UTC  Nicole Lienemann / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. Updated: Dec 12, 2023 7:14 PM UTCPublished: Jun 19, 2018 3:04 PM UTC Smoking rates among U.S. adults have hit an all-time low, according to new federal data. Approximately 14% of American adults said they were smokers last year, [according to data](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6744a2.htm?s%5Fcid=mm6744a2%5Fw) from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. While that’s still a significant number, encompassing about 34 million Americans, it’s the lowest rate recorded since the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) began collecting data about cigarette use in 1965\. Smoking rates have declined by 67% since then, according to the CDC. Today, men are more likely to use tobacco products than women, according to responses to the NHIS. Older adults are also more likely than younger adults to use tobacco products, the report says: Roughly 22% of adults ages 25 to 44 and 21% of those 45 to 64 reported using a tobacco product, compared to 18.3% of those ages 18 to 24. Smoking is also on the decline among kids and teenagers. Just 7.6% of high school students and 2.1% of middle school students reported using cigarettes in 2017, according to [recent CDC data](https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/67/wr/mm6722a3.htm). That’s down from roughly 16% and 4%, respectively, in 2011. The waning popularity of cigarettes is a win for public health, since smoking is associated with health risks ranging from [lung cancer](http://time.com/5396246/global-cancer-burden/) to [heart disease](http://time.com/5421877/heart-health/), but the CDC’s report shows that almost a fifth of Americans still use some kind of tobacco product. Cigarettes remain the most popular, followed by cigars (3.8% of Americans), e-cigarettes (2.8%), smokeless tobacco (2.1%) and pipes (1%). The rise of e-cigarettes, [particularly among young people](http://time.com/5211536/what-is-juuling/), has some public health experts concerned. E-cigarettes are now the [most commonly used tobacco product](http://time.com/5318265/vaping-new-smoking/) among both high school and middle school students, according to the CDC. Around 12% of high schoolers vaped in 2017, data shows, compared to [about 3% of U.S. adults as of 2016](https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic%5Finformation/e-cigarettes/index.htm). The health effects of vaping [are not well understood](http://time.com/5442252/are-e-cigarettes-safe/), and some evidence has shown that it may [promote other forms of tobacco use](http://time.com/4561490/ecig-e-cigarette-smoking/) among youth. As a result, the Food and Drug Administration has prioritized [limiting youth access to e-cigarettes](http://time.com/5252507/fda-juuls-e-cigarettes/). The products may, however, hold promise for adult smokers trying to quit — but even in this area, the evidence is inconclusive, the CDC notes. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5315907/smoking-rate-all-time-low/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5315907/smoking-rate-all-time-low/"},"headline":"Fewer American Adults Are Smoking Than Ever Before","datePublished":"2018-06-19T15:04:26.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-12T19:14:05.000Z","description":"Smoking rates hit 14% last year","url":"https://time.com/5315907/smoking-rate-all-time-low/","keywords":["Public Health","onetime","healthytime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf74f274883cf2abb/6988f662bc6cfc49943e47d4/mn13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Health","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf74f274883cf2abb/6988f662bc6cfc49943e47d4/mn13.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Close-Up Of Man Holding Cigarette","caption":"Close-Up Of Man Holding Cigarette","creditText":"Nicole Lienemann / EyeEm—Getty Images/EyeEm","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/health/","name":"Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/public-health/","name":"Public Health"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5315907/smoking-rate-all-time-low/","name":"Fewer American Adults Are Smoking Than Ever Before"}}]}] ```