Cigarette Smoking Hits All-Time Low: Less US Smokers than Ever Before

Tobacco smoking, and in particular cigarette smoking, has seen a year-on-year decline for decades now, but in the last few years, there has been a sudden and noticeable decline in tobacco use.

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In the late nineteen-fifties and early sixties, a slow decline in tobacco use began as more and more information became available about the effects of smoking on long-term health. In the fifty years since the Surgeon-General first warned about the dangers of smoking, tobacco use has reduced by nearly seventy percent.

Studies conducted by the National Cancer Institute in late-2019 found that less than 50 million Americans smoked regularly, with that number dropping further each year. If we are going to reduce the number of tobacco smokers even further, it is important to understand why fewer and fewer people are smoking than ever before.

Societal Norms Have Changed

The biggest single change has come from how people view smoking, and the widely held understanding that smoking not only poses a health risk to the smoker but also those around them.

This has led to smoking bans in many public places and establishments in states across the nation, and to the prohibition of smoking on public transportation. Smoking has become less social, leading to much fewer social smokers. Younger adults and children are also much less likely to try smoking or pick up the habit as it is more rarely seen and there are so many fewer places for them to smoke.

The Vape Effect

Vape sticks, pens, and other forms of e-cigarettes have had a large impact on the decrease in the use of combustible tobacco products. Many smokers have successfully used these devices to quit smoking and cut down on the amount of nicotine they use.

Disposable vape sticks are becoming a popular alternative to cigarettes. Products like the Ziip Stick offer smokers, and non-smokers, a mess-free and convenient vape stick that also has a variety of flavors to choose from providing many smokers with a welcome change in taste from tobacco. Vaping devices like Ziip Stick will be an important part of not just reducing the number of existing smokers, but also reducing the number of people who try smoking cigarettes.

Health Warnings on Packaging

When the first Surgeon-General warnings appeared on cigarette packaging, many smokers found them easy to ignore and even mock. In recent years, the warnings have become more graphic and harder to ignore, and this has had an impact on tobacco sales.

Tobacco packaging now has pictures showing users the negative health effects that smoking tobacco has had on real people. These are much harder for smokers to ignore and have led many to look for a way to quit the habit.

By continuing these efforts, and making alternatives available to smokers, the number of tobacco users can be reduced even further. Smoking-related illnesses cost millions of dollars a year to treat and they still kill nearly half a million Americans annually. Hopefully, in the next decade, we can halve that number.