Share of cigarette smokers in the United States 2005-2015

This statistic shows the results of a survey on smoking habits, conducted in the United States from 2005 to 2015. The survey was conducted in July of each year, except for 2009, when it was conducted in June. In 2013, 80 percent of respondents in the United States said they had not smoked any cigarettes in the past week, while 19 percent stated they had.

Smoking in the United States

The percentage of smokers has decreased from 25 percent in 2005 to 19 percent in 2015, with total cigarette consumption also decreasing, reaching peak consumption back in 1980. This goes along with the fact that 80 percent of Americans believe that smoking is actually very harmful to the people who smoke. Yet, the number of adult smokers who still currently smoke is still close to 40 million in the United States. Of the people that still smoke, 72 percent consider themselves to be addicted whereas only 27 percent believe otherwise.

Even though the number of smokers seems high, the United States is near the bottom of a list of countries showing the share of the population who smoke on a daily basis compared to other countries around the world. Greece and Indonesia are at the top, closely followed by Latvia.

The general understanding that smoking is bad for your health has generated another way of smoking in the United States which is particularly popular amongst young adults – e-smoking. E-cigarettes run on batteries and have a cartridge that contains nicotine in a solution, which when smoked, heats the liquid, causing it to evaporate. In the past few years, e-cigarette use tripled in schools, surpassing regular cigarettes. When adults were questioned as to their motivations to try e-smoking, 47 percent responded that it was because of family and friends, while 39 percent said that it was the ability to be able to smoke inside.