Fast Facts

Tobacco Use in the United States

• Approximately 19.8% of U.S. adults (46 million people) are current cigarette smokers.
• In the United States, 20% of high school students are current cigarette smokers.
• Each day, about 1,100 persons younger than 18 years of age become regular smokers; that is, they begin smoking on a daily basis.
• Among adult smokers, 70% report that they want to quit completely, and more than 40% try to quit each year.
• Smoking causes more than $167 billion in annual health-related costs, including adult mortality-related productivity costs, adult medical expenditures and medical expenditures for newborns.

Morbidity and Mortality Related to Tobacco Use

• Tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year.
• Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
• Cigarette smoking is responsible for about one in five deaths annually in the US, or 443,000 deaths per year. That's approximately 1,200 people each day - more than deaths caused by alcohol, cocaine, crack, heroin, homicide, suicide, care crashes, fires, and AIDS combined.
• An estimated 49,000 of these deaths are the result of second hand smoke exposure.
• On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.
• For every person who dies of a smoking-related disease, 20 more people suffer with at least one serious illness from smoking.

Source: U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention