🚭 The share of Americans who smoke has dropped to a historic low

• Less than ten percent of American adults smoked cigarettes in 2024, the first time the rate has reached single digits.
• Reduced smoking has contributed to nearly four million lung cancer deaths being averted between 1970 and 2022.
• If the current trend holds, the US could reach the goal of lowering the smoking rate to 6.1 percent by 2030.

From 42 to below ten percent

The share of American adults who smoke cigarettes has never been this low. That is the finding of a new study published in NEJM Evidence.

The researchers analyzed nationally representative survey data and found that 9.9 percent of the adult population smoked cigarettes in 2024. It is the first time the rate has dropped below ten percent. The year before, in 2023, the figure was 10.8 percent. In actual numbers, the 2024 figure corresponds to roughly 25 million Americans.

The development becomes particularly clear in a longer perspective. In 1964, the same year the US surgeon general published his report on the health risks of smoking, 42 percent of American adults reported smoking. Following the report and broad public health campaigns, the rate declined slowly but steadily. Since the early 2000s, the decline has accelerated, largely because younger generations never started smoking.

Millions of averted deaths

Smoking has long been linked to an increased risk of cancer, particularly lung cancer, and other health problems. The decline in smoking is one of the major contributing factors to falling cancer mortality. According to a 2025 report from the American Cancer Society, reduced smoking has led to nearly four million lung cancer deaths being averted between 1970 and 2022.

Toward the 6.1 percent goal

The study is based on data from the National Health Interview Survey, an annual nationally representative survey of Americans' lifestyle habits conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If the current rate of decline continues, the US could meet or even exceed the federal goal of lowering the smoking rate to 6.1 percent by 2030.

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