U.S. Smoking Rate Hits All-Time Low

Fewer U.S. adults are smoking cigarettes, as rates dropped again last year, according to federal health officials.

In all, one in nine American adults smoked cigarettes last year, an all-time low, and a significant change from the 1960s when 42% smoked.

The results weren't all positive, the Associated Press reported, as vaping rose to about one in 17 adults. For 2022, use of electronic cigarettes was about 6% compared to 4.5% the year before.

These preliminary findings are from a survey of more than 27,000 adults by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The findings are sometimes revised after further analysis.

“I think that smoking will contin- ue to ebb downwards, but whether the prevalence of nicotine addiction will drop, given the rise of electronic products, is not clear,” Jonathan Samet, dean of the Colorado School of Public Health in Aurora, told the AP.