Fast Facts

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 [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

1. World Health Organization. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 . Geneva: World Health Organization; 2008 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Annual Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 1995–1999. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2002;51(14):300–303 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
3. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Smoking-Attributable Mortality, Years of Potential Life Lost, and Productivity Losses—United States, 2000–2004. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2008;57(45):1226–1228 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
4. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking-Attributable Morbidity—United States, 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2003;52(35) [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
5. 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.
6. Behan DF, Eriksen MP, Lin Y. Economic Effects of Environmental Tobacco Smoke Report [paper on the Internet]. Schaumburg, IL: Society of Actuaries; 2005 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
7. Federal Trade Commission. Cigarette Report for 2004 and 2005 (PDF–880 KB). Washington, DC: Federal Trade Commission; 2007 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
8. Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids. A Broken Promise to Our Children: The 1998 State Tobacco Settlement Nine Years Later (PDF–1.82 MB). Washington, DC: Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids; 2007 [updated 2007 Dec 12; accessed 2009 Mar 31].
9. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Best Practices for Comprehensive Tobacco Control Programs—2007. 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].
10. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults—United States, 2007. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2008;57(45):1221–1226 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
11. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Use Among High School Students—United States, 1991–2007. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2008;57(25):689–691 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
12. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. Results from the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (PDF–1.41 MB): (Office of Applied Studies, NSDUH Series H-32, DHHS Publication No. SMA 07–4293). Rockville, MD [accessed 2009 Mar 31].
13. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Cigarette Smoking Among Adults—United States, 2000. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report [serial online]. 2002;51:642–5 [accessed 2009 Mar 31].