Tobacco Facts and Figures

Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable illness and death in the United States. It causes many different cancers as well as chronic lung diseases such as emphysema and bronchitis, heart disease, pregnancy-related problems, and many other serious health problems.

• Who smokes?

• Why is smoking harmful to smokers?

• Why is smoking harmful to non-smokers?

• Who uses smokeless tobacco?

• How is smokeless tobacco harmful?

Who smokes?

• Each day, more than 3,200 people under 18 smoke their first cigarette, and approximately 2,100 youth and young adults become daily smokers.

• 9 out of 10 smokers start before the age of 18, and 98% start smoking by age 26.

• 1 in 5 adults and teenagers smoke.

• In 2011, an estimated 19% of U.S. adults were cigarette smokers.

• Approximately 18% of high school students smoke cigarettes.

• In 2011, nearly 18% of high school boys were current cigar users.

• From 1964 to 2014, the proportion of adult smokers declined from 42.0% to 18.0%.

Why is smoking harmful to smokers?

General Health

• More than 16 million people already have at least one disease from smoking.

• More than 20 million Americans have died because of smoking since 1964, including approximately 2.5 million deaths due to exposure to secondhand smoke.

• 8.6 million people live with a serious illness caused by smoking.

• On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.

Respiratory Health

• Nearly 9 out of 10 lung cancers are caused by smoking. Smokers today are much more likely to develop lung cancer than smokers were in 1964.

• Nearly 8 out of 10 COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) deaths are a result of smoking. Currently, there is no cure for COPD.

• Women smokers are up to 40 times more likely to develop COPD (Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease) than women who have never smoked.

• Smoking increases a person’s risk of getting tuberculosis and dying from it.

• More than 11% of high school students in the United States have asthma, and studies suggest that youth who smoke are more likely to develop asthma.

• Smoking slows down lung growth in children and teens.

• Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among both men and women in the United States, and 90% of lung cancer deaths among men and approximately 80% of lung cancer deaths among women are due to smoking.

Cancer

• Smoking causes many other types of cancer, including cancers of the throat, mouth, nasal cavity, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, kidney, bladder, and cervix, as well as acute myeloid leukemia.

• Men with prostate cancer who smoke may be more likely to die from the disease than nonsmokers.

Children

• 5.6 million children alive today will ultimately die early from smoking. That is equal to 1 child out of every 13 alive in the U.S. today.

Diabetes

• Smokers are 30% to 40% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes than nonsmokers.

Fertility

• 18 million males over age 20 suffer from erectile dysfunction (ED). Smoking is a cause of ED, as cigarette smoke alters blood flow necessary for an erection.