Report: US adult smoking rate dips to 18 percent

[dixiegrrrrl]

Fewer U.S. adults are smoking, a new government report says.

Last year, about 18 percent of adults participating in a national health survey described themselves as current smokers.

The nation's smoking rate generally has been falling for decades, but had seemed to stall at around 20 to 21 percent for about seven years. In 2011, the rate fell to 19 percent, but that might have been a statistical blip.
Patrick Reynolds, executive director of the Foundation for a SmokeFree America, told The Associated Press that he was elated that the adult smoking rate, for years at about 20 percent, had dropped below that longstanding plateau.

He said factors he thinks have contributed to fewer adults smoking include rising state and federal tobacco taxes, more spending on prevention and cessation programs, and more laws banning smoking in public.
http://www.ajc.com/ap/ap/health/report-us-adult-smoking-rate-dips-to-18-percent/nYNJ5/

anyone here sucessfully quit smoking last year?
This year, so far?

[zazen]

1. I think it'd be because of an aging population too

Two relatives of mine (in 70s and 50s) were just diagnosed with late COPD and have mostly stopped smoking after decades of "pack years." The aging folks who've kept smoking are either dying, dead, or quitting, as the consequences are hitting them. I'd assume there are fewer smokers entering the adult pool than there were in decades past as the older ones "age out" in the best=quitting (or worst=death) way.