US Youth Smoking Rate Drops to 12%: Gallup Report

According to a new Gallup poll cited by The Hill, smoking rates among young people in the United States have decreased from 35% to 12% over the past 20 years.

According to data, the decline in smoking rates among the 18 to 29-year-old demographic is more than twice that of any other age group. This means that young people are the second least likely group to smoke, following only those aged 65 and older.

Between 2001 and 2012, the proportion of young adult smokers was higher than any other age group.

Between 2019 and 2022, 7% of American adults reported using electronic cigarettes, while 19% of young people reported using them.

The report suggests that due to these differences, young people are more likely to use e-cigarettes instead of traditional tobacco cigarettes, while smoking is more common among older age groups.

Currently, it is unclear how the use of e-cigarettes has grown among this age group in recent years, as Gallup only began conducting polls on e-cigarette use in 2019. However, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States shows that e-cigarette use in adolescents increased between 2011 and 2018, but has since declined.

According to a Gallup report, "These data suggest that much of the decline in cigarette smoking among young people may have been offset by e-cigarette use, indicating that young people are still consuming nicotine-containing products, but in a different way.

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