Cigarette smoking among adults steady near historic low: Gallup

The cigarette smoking rate among American adults is holding near a historic low reached last year, according to a Gallup survey released Friday.

Gallup’s Consumption Habits survey found that only 12 percent of Americans said they had smoked cigarettes in the past week.

That figure marked a 1 percentage point increase from last year, but it was “significantly lower” than in every other year of the eight decades Gallup has been polling on the question, Gallup said in an analysis of the survey results.

“The decline in smoking has come as more Americans likely heed the warnings about the health dangers associated with cigarette smoking and as most public places prohibit it,” the survey analysis said. 

The survey also asked about respondents’ electronic cigarette or vaping use in the prior week. It found that 8 percent of adults had smoked e-cigarettes in that time period, which was “consistent with what Gallup has measured on three other occasions since 2019,” according to the analysis.

“Young adults are the most likely to vape, with those under age 30 more than twice as likely as any other age group to smoke e-cigarettes,” the survey analysis read. 

The study was conducted July 3-27.