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Morbidity and Mortality Related to Tobacco Use
Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year.1
Current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030.1
Cigarette smoking is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.2
In the United States, cigarette smoking is responsible for about one in five deaths annually, or
about 443,000 deaths per year.3
An estimated 49,000 of these deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure.3
On average, smokers die 13 to 14 years earlier than nonsmokers.2
For every person who dies of a smoking-related disease, 20 more people suffer with at least
one serious illness from smoking.4
Cigarette smoking increases the length of time that people live with a disability by about 2
years.5
Tobacco-Related Costs and Expenditure in the United
States
Annually, cigarette smoking costs more than $193 billion ($97 billion in lost productivity and
$96 billion in health care expenditures).3
Health care costs associated with exposure to secondhand smoke average $10 billion
annually.6
In 2005, the latest year with available data, the cigarette industry spent almost $13.4 billion, or
more than $36 million per day, on advertising and promotional expenses.7
States spend less than 3% of the $24.9 billion available to them from tobacco excise taxes and
tobacco industry legal settlements on preventing and controlling tobacco use.8 Investing only
17% of these funds would allow every state tobacco control program to be funded at
CDC-recommended minimum levels.9
Tobacco Use in the United States
Approximately 19.8% of U.S. adults (43.4 million people) are current cigarette smokers.10
Prevalence of cigarette smoking is highest among American Indians/Alaska Natives (36.4%),
followed by African Americans (19.8%), whites (21.4%), Hispanics (13.3%), and Asians
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[excluding Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders](9.6%).10
In the United States, 20% of high school students are current cigarette smokers.11
Each day, about 1,100 persons younger than 18 years of age become regular smokers; that is,
they begin smoking on a daily basis.12
Among adult smokers, 70% report that they want to quit completely,13 and more than 40% try
to quit each year.9
References
World Health Organization. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008
(http://www.who.int/tobacco/mpower/en/) (http://www.cdc.gov/Other/disclaimer.html) .
Geneva: World Health Organization; 2008 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
1.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality,
Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 1995–1999
(http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5114a2.htm) . Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2002;51(14):300–303 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
2.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of
Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004
(http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a3.htm) . Morbidity and
Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2008;57(45):1226–1228 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
3.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking-Attributable Morbidity
—United States, 2000 (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml
/mm5235a4.htm) . Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2003;52(35)
[accessed 2009 Mar 31].
4.
Nusselder WJ, Looman CWN, Marang-van de Mheen PJ, van de Mheen H, Mackenbachet JP.
Smoking and the Compression of Morbidity. Journal of Epidemiology and Community
Health. 2000;54:566–74.
5.
Behan DF, Eriksen MP, Lin Y. Economic Effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke
Report (http://www.soa.org/research/life/research-economic-effect.aspx)
(http://www.cdc.gov/Other/disclaimer.html) [paper on the Internet]. Schaumburg, IL: Society of
Actuaries; 2005 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
6.
Federal Trade Commission. Cigarette Report for 2004 and 2005 (http://www.ftc.gov
/reports/tobacco/2007cigarette2004-2005.pdf) (http://www.cdc.gov/Other
/disclaimer.html) (PDF–880 KB). Washington, DC: Federal Trade Commission; 2007
[accessed 2009 Mar 31].
7.
Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State
Tobacco Settlement Nine Years Later (http://tobaccofreekids.org/reports/settlements
/2008/fullreport.pdf) (http://www.cdc.gov/Other/disclaimer.html) (PDF–1.82 MB).
Washington, DC: Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids; 2007 [updated 2007 Dec 12; accessed 2009
Mar 31].
8.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco
Control Programs—2007 (/tobacco/stateandcommunity/best_practices/index.htm) .
Atlanta: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on
Smoking and Health; October 2007. [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
9.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults—United
States, 2007 (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5745a2.htm) .
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2008;57(45):1221–1226 [accessed 2009
Mar 31].
10.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Use Among High School Students11.
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Page last reviewed: May 29, 2009
Page last updated: May 29, 2009
Content source: Office on Smoking and Health, National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 1600 Clifton Rd. Atlanta, GA 30333, USA
800-CDC-INFO (800-232-4636) TTY: (888) 232-6348, 24 Hours/Every Day -
cdcinfo@cdc.gov
—United States, 1991–2007 (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml
/mm5725a3.htm) . Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online].
2008;57(25):689–691 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2006
National Survey on Drug Use and Health (http://oas.samhsa.gov/nsduh/2k6nsduh
/2k6results.pdf) (http://www.cdc.gov/Other/disclaimer.html) (PDF–1.41 MB): (Office of
Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-32, DHHS Publication No. SMA 07–4293). Rockville, MD
[accessed 2009 Mar 31].
12.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults—United
States, 2000 (http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5129a3.htm) .
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2002;51:642–5 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
13.
Smoking and Tobacco Use :: Fact Sheet :: Fast Facts :: Office on Smoking...http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/fast_facts/index.htm
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