The number of people saying a bye-bye to smoking is increasing rapidly in the United States, according to the CDC survey.
The newly released National Health Interview Survey report of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that the smoking rates among adults have dropped to 15% in 2015. This is so far the biggest decline in more than 20 years in the United States.
‘The rate of smoking among adults in the U.S. fell to 15 percent in 2015 and is the biggest one-year decline in more than 20 years.’
In 2014, the adult smoking rate was 17%, so there was a decline by 2 percentage points, which experts note as the highest drop in one year. Usually, there will be a drop of 1 point or less.
The report also showed that the prevalence of cigarette smoking declined from 24% in 1997 to 15% in 2015. Male smokers (17%) were higher than females(14%). Smoking among people aged above 65 years was less (8%) compared to adults between the age 18-65 years (16%).
CDC estimated that smoking leads to more than 480,000 deaths each year in the United States. It is the nation's leading cause of preventable deaths.
The recent decline in smoking rates may be because of the shift to other nicotine products such as e-cigarettes. But CDC has also cautioned about the growing addiction to e-cigarettes among adolescents as many are using them to abstain from conventional smoking.