The adult smoking rate is at a historically low level, according to the 2017 National Health Interview Survey released recently by the CDC. The figures show that adult smoking rates decreased from 15.5 percent in 2016 to 13.9 percent in 2017 – numbers that “reflect enormous progress in fighting tobacco use and will yield tremendous benefit to lung health in this country,” according to Harold P. Wimmer, National President and CEO of the American Lung Association (ALA).
Wimmer gave credit for the drop to public policies that include increased tobacco taxes, well-funded tobacco prevention and quit-smoking programs, hard hitting media campaigns like CDC's Tips From Former Smokers campaign and comprehensive smokefree workplace laws.