Overview
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s preliminary survey of more than 24,200 adults found about 9% of U.S. adults were current cigarette smokers using the CDC definition of at least 100 lifetime cigarettes and now smoking every day or some days.
- Adult use of electronic cigarettes held roughly steady at about 7% in the same survey, raising questions about whether vaping is replacing or delaying quitting.
- Public-health experts credit decades of higher taxes, price increases, smoking bans and education campaigns for the long decline from roughly 42% of adults smoking in the mid-1960s to today.
- Advocates say cuts to federal prevention efforts that eliminated the CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health and the ‘Tips from Former Smokers’ campaign have weakened cessation support; campaign estimates say 'Tips' helped over 1 million people quit and saved about $7.3 billion in health costs.
- Because cigarette smoking remains a leading preventable cause of death, experts warn that restoring prevention funding could preserve health gains, reduce future health spending, and influence whether vaping trends slow or reverse smoking declines.