STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Rate has fallen from 35% to 12% in the past two decades
• Young adults more likely to smoke e-cigarettes, marijuana than tobacco
• Smoking among young adults may be shifting from tobacco to e-cigarettes 

WASHINGTON, D.C. — As the percentage of U.S. adults who smoke cigarettes has reached a new low of 11% this year, much of the decline is tied to sharply lower smoking rates among young adults. From 2001 to 2003, an average of 35% of U.S. adults between the ages of 18 and 29 said they smoked cigarettes, compared with 12% in the latest estimate.

This 23-percentage-point decline among young adults is more than double that of any other age group over that time. As a result of these changes, young adults have moved from the group most likely to smoke cigarettes to the second-least likely, with a rate higher than only the oldest Americans.

Gallup trends through 2012 showed that young adults were the age group most likely to smoke cigarettes. Between 2013 and 2015, their smoking rates dipped below those of 30- to 49-year-olds, and […]