exactly a year ago<\/a>, that figure was at 16.8 percent. These numbers released this month by the Centers for Disease Research actually refer to the 2015 smoking rate; it takes several months to put out a report, so that figure could be even lower now.<\/p>\nThis is also the biggest single-year drop in the smoking rate ever recorded by the CDC. The next closest was 2009 to 2010, when the smoking rate dropped from 20.6 percent to 19.3 percent.<\/p>\n
The news gets better. The smoking rate for people aged 19-24 is just 13 percent. There’s virtually no future smokers after someone turns 24, so that 13 percent figure will just drop as those smokers grow older and wiser.<\/p>\n
Another bit of good news — California just passed a $2 a pack cigarette tax increase, which could drop the smoking rate in California down by as much as 20 percent (studies have shown a $1 a pack increase in cigarette taxes drops the smoking rate by roughly 10 percent).<\/p>\n
If the California smoking rate drops by 20 percent, that’s 500,000 to 600,000 smokers giving up the habit, and that will have a major effect on the national smoking rate. That all by itself is more than 1 percent of the smokers nationwide.<\/p>\n
There’s myriad reasons for the drop in the smoking rate — higher cigarette taxes, indoor smoking bans, more awareness of the health risks, social disapproval of smoking and, to be honest, the rise of e-cigarettes.<\/p>\n
From the graph up above, you can see there is actually a pretty frustrating era from 1990 to 2009 in which the drop in the smoking rate was excruciatingly slow\u00a0— in fact, incredibly, one year (2008) it actually went UP. That’s the effect of Joe Camel\u00a0and a big increase in tobacco advertising in the 1990s and an increase in smoking in PG-13 and PG movies and cuts to tobacco education in the 2000s, in my opinion.<\/p>\n
In those 19 years, the smoking rate only dropped from 25.5 percent to 20.6 percent, an average of 0.26 percent a year. Since 2009, the smoking rate has dropped from 20.6 percent to 15.1 percent, a drop of 0.92 percent a year over the past six years. The rate has actually dropped more\u00a0during the past six years than it did in the 19 years prior to that. I do think e-cigs have something substantial to do with that, as well as Hollywood stubbing out smoking in PG movies.<\/p>\n
If FDA regulations of e-cigarettes go through, and I’m sure it will be tied up in court for a while, it will be interesting to see if there is any effect on the smoking rate, because these regulations are expected to all by wipe out all the small e-cigarette companies, which make up roughly 40 percent to 50 percent of the market. Big Tobacco itself owns the three best-selling e-cig brands — Vuse, Blu and MarkTen.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A story from National Public Radio that the smoking rate in the U.S. is now down to 15 percent, the lowest ever recorded. This also gives me the opportunity to fire up my Excel and make a new smoking rate graph! This is especially cool because it is actually the 50th anniversary of the CDC … Continue reading Smoking rate now down to 15 percent; biggest single-year drop ever recorded<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3980,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13,337,1],"tags":[107,586,429],"class_list":["post-3979","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-centers-for-disease-control","category-smoking-rate","category-uncategorized","tag-cdc","tag-centers-for-disease-control","tag-smoking-rate"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/U.S.-Smoking-Rate.jpg?fit=1341%2C679&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4hpEa-12b","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":605,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=605","url_meta":{"origin":3979,"position":0},"title":"New data on smoking rates by age, sex, occupation — Miners smoke the most!","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 5, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Quelle shock, miners are heavy smokers! I haven't done a piece on the annual Centers for Disease Control report on cigarette smoking in the U.S. in quite some time. This report takes a slightly different tack -- breaking down smoking rates by occupation. Overall, the adult smoking rate in America\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Anti-tobacco campaign"","block_context":{"text":"Anti-tobacco campaign","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/miner-smoking.jpg?fit=900%2C604&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/miner-smoking.jpg?fit=900%2C604&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/miner-smoking.jpg?fit=900%2C604&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/miner-smoking.jpg?fit=900%2C604&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4180,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4180","url_meta":{"origin":3979,"position":1},"title":"CDC study — teen vaping, smoking rate slowly declining","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 19, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"A couple of contradictory articles here about what appears to be the same survey. Took some research, but I got to the bottom of what these numbers really mean. This CDC graphic is REALLY helpful. I recommend clicking on it to see it full size. According to U.S. News and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "centers for disease control"","block_context":{"text":"centers for disease control","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/mm6722a3-F1.gif?fit=826%2C476&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/mm6722a3-F1.gif?fit=826%2C476&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/mm6722a3-F1.gif?fit=826%2C476&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/mm6722a3-F1.gif?fit=826%2C476&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3617,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=3617","url_meta":{"origin":3979,"position":2},"title":"Washington Post: U.S. smoking rate drops below 17 percent … and other smoking trends","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"November 16, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"A very nice article in the Washington Post this week about \"who stills smokes today.\" First of all, the good news. According to the Post article, which got its numbers from the Centers for Disease Control, the smoking rate in the U.S. has dropped to 16.8 percent. That's the lowest\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "centers for disease control"","block_context":{"text":"centers for disease control","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/11\/smoking-rate.jpg?fit=1200%2C805&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4060,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=4060","url_meta":{"origin":3979,"position":3},"title":"Good news everyone … teen smoking AND vaping both drop","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 25, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Great news again. For the first time in five years, not only did teen smoking drop this past year, but the teen vaping rate also dropped ... and by quite a bit. This is according to figures released last week by the Centers for Disease Control. Teen vaping use had\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "centers for disease control"","block_context":{"text":"centers for disease control","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/151021-teensvaping-stock.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/151021-teensvaping-stock.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/151021-teensvaping-stock.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/151021-teensvaping-stock.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/151021-teensvaping-stock.jpg?fit=1200%2C800&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":2293,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=2293","url_meta":{"origin":3979,"position":4},"title":"Good news everyone, teen smoking rate drops to lowest point in 22 years","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"June 13, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Good news. According to new figure from the Centers for Disease Control, the smoking rate for teens has dropped to 15.7 percent, the lowest\u00a0in 22 years that the National Youth Risk Surveys have been tracking the smoking rate. The high point (or low point depending upon your perspective) of teen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "1998 Master Settlement Agreement"","block_context":{"text":"1998 Master Settlement Agreement","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=315"},"img":{"alt_text":"good news","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/good-news.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":625,"url":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?p=625","url_meta":{"origin":3979,"position":5},"title":"Lung cancer rates dropping for men … and finally for women, too","author":"Pepe Lepew","date":"October 11, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Great news from the Centers for Disease Control. Compiling data from 2008 (it takes a few years to put this together), in a trend that began in the 1990s, the lung cancer rate for men in the United States continued to drop. Better news, however, is the lung cancer rate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "centers for disease control"","block_context":{"text":"centers for disease control","link":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/?cat=13"},"img":{"alt_text":"Smoking_Kills","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/10\/Smoking_Kills.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3979","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3980"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pepesnonsmokingpartytimelounge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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