Cigarette Smoking Among Adults——United States, 2007

November 14, 2008 / Vol. 57 / No. 45

MMWR Highlights

• Approximately 19.8% (43.4 million) of adults were current smokers in 2007, a decrease of 1% from 2006 (20.8%)
• After 3 years cigarette smoking prevalance among adults remained virtually unchanged (20.9% in 2004, 20.9% in 2005, and 20.8% in 2006), the prevalence in 2007 (19.8%) was significantly lower than in 2006.
• In 2007, 77.8% (33.8 million) of current smokers smoked every day and 22.2% (9.6 million) smoked some days.

Quit Attempts

• In 2007, the proportion of current everyday smokers who tried to quit was 53.1% among ages 18–24 years, 39.9% among ages 25–44 years, 38.1% among 45–64 year olds and 25.3% among those 65 years and older.
• In 2007, 39.8% (13.4 million) adult current everyday smokers had stopped smoking for more than one day in the past 12 months because they were trying to quit.
• Among the estimated 86.8 million adults who had smoked at least 100 cigarettes in their lifetime (defined as ever smokers), 52.1% (47.3 million) were no longer smoking at the time of the interview.

Smoking and U.S. Demographics

• Smoking prevalence was higher among men (22.3%) than women (17.4%).
• The prevalence of smoking among women has remained below 20% for five consecutive years (19.2% in 2003 and 17.4% in 2007); however, variability existed among the subgroups of women.
• Among the different racial/ethnic groups, Asians (9.6%) had the lowest smoking prevalence while American Indians and Alaska Natives (36.4%) had significantly higher prevalence than the other racial/ethnic groups. Smoking prevalence among whites (21.4%) and blacks (19.8%) was significantly higher than among Hispanics (13.3%).
• Adults who had a General Education Development (GED) diploma (44.0%) and those with 9–11 years of education (33.3%) had the highest prevalence of current smoking. Those who had an undergraduate or graduate degree had the lowest smoking prevalence (11.4% and 6.2%, respectively).
• Smoking prevalence was lowest among those 65 years and older (8.3%) compared to those 18–24 years (22.2%), 25–44 years (22.8%) and 45–64 years (21.0%).
• Smoking among adults whose incomes were below the federal poverty level (28.8%) was significantly higher than those whose incomes were at or above this level (20.3%).
• Subpopulations who continue to meet the Healthy People 2010 objective to reduce the prevalence of adult cigarette smoking to 12% or less include: Hispanic (8.3%) and Asian (4.0%) women, women who have 0–8 years of education (10.0%, women with undergraduate degrees (9.4%), women with graduate degrees (6.0%), and women aged 65 years and older (7.6%). Men with graduate degrees (6.4%) and men aged 65 years and older (9.3%) also met this goal.