Racial/Ethnic Differences Among Youths in Cigarette Smoking and Susceptibility to Start Smoking—United States, 2002–2004

American Indians/Alaska Natives (AI/AN) had the greatest cigarette smoking prevalence (23.1%), followed by non-Hispanic whites (14.9%), Hispanics (9.3%), non-Hispanic blacks (6.5%), and Asians (4.3%).
Among Asian subpopulations, smoking prevalence ranged from 2.2% for Viet Namese to 6.8% for Koreans; among Hispanic populations, prevalence ranged from 7.3% for Central and South Americans to 11.2% for Cubans.
A wide range in susceptibility to start smoking was observed among youth who had never smoked. Overall, 22.2% of youth aged 12–17 years were susceptible to start smoking.
Mexican youth were significantly more susceptible (28.8%) to start smoking than non-Hispanic white (20.8%), non-Hispanic black (23.0%), Cuban (16.4%), Asian Indian (15.4%), Chinese (15.3%), and Viet Namese (13.8%) youth.