FAST FACTS

• Tobacco Related Costs and Expenditures in the United States
  
  
  • Annually, cigarette smoking costs more than $193 billion ($97 billion in lost productivity and 96 billion in health care expenditures).⁽³⁾
  • Health care costs associated with exposure to second hand smoke average $10 billion annually.⁽⁶⁾
  • In 2005, the latest year with available data, the cigarette industry spent almost $13.4 billion, or more than $36 million per day, on advertising and promotional expenses.⁽⁷⁾
  • States spend less than 3% of the $24.9 billion available to them from tobacco excise taxes and tobacco industry legal settlements on preventing and controlling tobacco use.⁽⁸⁾ Investing only 17% of these funds would allow every state tobacco control program to be funded at CDC- recommended minimum levels.⁽⁹⁾
    
    
• Tobacco Use in the United States
  
  
  • Approximately 19.8% of U.S. adults (43.4 million people) are current cigarette smokers.⁽¹⁰⁾
  • Prevalence of cigarette smoking is highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (36.4%), followed by African Americans (19.8%), whites (21.4 %), Hispanics (13.3%), and Asians [excluding Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders] (9.6%).⁽¹⁰⁾
  • In the United States, 20% of high school students are current cigarette smokers.⁽¹¹⁾
  • Each day, about 1,100 persons younger than 18 years of age become regular smokers; that is, they begin smoking on a daily basis.⁽¹²⁾
  • Among adult smokers, 70% report that they want to quit completely,⁽¹³⁾ and more than 40% try to quit each year.⁽⁹⁾
    
    
• Morbidity and Mortality Related to Tobacco Use
  
  
• Tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year.⁽¹⁾
• Trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030.⁽¹⁾
• Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.⁽²⁾
• In the United States, cigarette smoking is responsible for about one in five deaths annually, or 443,000 deaths per year.⁽³⁾
• An estimated 49,000 of these deaths are the result of second hand smoke exposure.⁽²⁾
• On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.⁽⁴⁾
• For every person who dies of a smoking-related disease, 20 more people suffer with at least one serious illness from smoking.⁽⁵⁾

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References

(1) World Health Organization. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2008 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(2) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking- Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses- United States, 1995-1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (serial online). 2002;51(14):300-303 [accessed 2009 Mar 31]).

(3) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking- Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses- United States, 2000-2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (serial online). 2008;57(45):1226-1228 [accessed 2009 Mar 31]).

(4) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking- Attributable Morbidity- United States, 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (Serial online). 2003;52(35) [accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(5) Nusselder WJ, Looman CWN, Marang-van de Mheen PJ, van de Mheen H, Mackenbachet JP. Smoking and the Compression of Morbidity. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. 2000;54:566-74.

(6) Behan DF, Eriksen MP, Lin Y. Environmental Effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Report (paper on the internet). Schamburg,IL: Society of Actuaries;2005 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(7) Federal Trade Commission. Cigarette Report for 2004 and 2005 (PDF-880 KB). Washinton, DC: Federal Trade Commission;2007 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(8) Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. A Brokern Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement Nine Years Later.(PDF–1. 82 MB). Washington, DC : Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids;2007 (updated 2007 Dec 12; [accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(9) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs-2007. Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion,Office on Smoking and Health; October 2007. [accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(10) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults- United States,2007. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (serial online). 2008;57(45):1221-1226[accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(11) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking Among High School Students- United States,1991-2007. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (serial online). 2008;57(25):689-691[accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(12) Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (PDF-1.41MB): (office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-32, DHHS Publication No. SMA 07-4293). Rockville, MD[accessed 2009 Mar 31].

(13) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults- United States,2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (serial online). 2002;51:642-5[accessed 2009 Mar 31].