Smoking has hit an all-time low in the US, government figures show.
Just 13.9 percent of US adults smoked in 2017, down from about 15.5 percent the year before, according to a report from the CDC released on Tuesday.
Teens are smoking less than ever before as well, with rates down to just nine percent among high school students.
Decades of health warnings have raised public awareness about how the addictive habit can cause many cancers – including lung, throat and stomach cancer – resulting in a declining number of smokers, experts say.
Smoking has hit an all-time low in the US with just 13.9 percent of US adults puffing on cigarettes in 2017, down from about 15.5 percent the year before, a CDC report shows
There hadn’t been much change the previous two years, but it’s been clear there’s been a general decline and the new figures show it’s continuing, said K Michael Cummings of the tobacco research program at Medical University of South Carolina.
‘Everything is pointed in the right direction,’ including falling cigarette sales and other indicators, Cummings said.
The CDC report comes on the heels of a ruling on Monday requiring tobacco companies to describe their products as ‘deadly’ and ‘addictive’ on their websites.
The companies, which Altria, RJ Reynolds Tobacco, Lorillard, and Philip Morris USA, had to issue corrective statements’ online by June 18..
In the statements, the companies must discuss the health effects of smoking, nicotine addiction, and the health risks linked to secondhand smoke exposure.
Similar warnings must appear on cigarette packages by November 21.
In the early 1960s, roughly 42 percent of US adults smoked. It was common nearly everywhere – in office buildings, restaurants, airplanes and even hospitals.
The decline has coincided with a multitude of studies showing that smoking is linked to various cancers, heart disease, and other health problems.
Anti-smoking campaigns, cigarette taxes and smoking bans are combining to bring down adult smoking rates, experts say.
The launch of electronic cigarettes and their growing popularity has also likely played a role.
E-cigarettes heat liquid nicotine into a vapor without the harmful by-products generated from burning tobacco.
That makes them a potentially useful tool to help smokers quit, but some public health experts worry it also creates a new way for people to get addicted to nicotine.
There was no new information for adult use of e-cigarettes and vaping products, but 2016 figures say about three percent of US adults use them.
Vaping is more common among teens than adults. About 13 percent of high school students use e-cigarettes or other vaping devices.