DID YOU KNOW?

Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.

How are the numbers adding up in the U.S.?

Nearly 21% of U.S. adults (45.1 million people) are current cigarette smokers.
Cigarette smoking is highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (32.0 percent), followed by whites (21.9 percent), African Americans (21.5 percent), Hispanics (16.2 percent), and Asians [excluding Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders] (13.3 percent).
70% of adult smokers report that they want to quit, (9) and more than 40% try to quit each year.
Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.
In the United States, cigarette smoking is responsible for about one in five deaths annually, or about 438,000 deaths per year.

An estimated 38,000 of these deaths are the result of secondhand 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.
Cigarette smoking increases the length of time that people live with a disability by about 2 years.

references | updated: 10.29.2007

references

Centers for Disease Control. Smoking and Tobacco Use. Fast Facts. Retrieved October 29, 2007 from http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/basic_information/FastFacts.htm#toll.