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Smoking is losing its popularity in the United States, where health officials announced Thursday that only 14% of the population now smoke, the lowest level ever recorded in the country.
About 34 million American adults smoke cigarettes, according to a survey conducted in 2017 by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The cigarette smoking rate of 14% is down from 15.5% in 2016.
The current rate is down 67% since 1965, when the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) collected annual smoking data, says the CDC report.
"This new smoking record for American adults is a tremendous accomplishment for public health," said CDC Director Robert Redfield.
The NHIS report also highlighted a significant drop in the number of young adult cigarette smokers in 2017 compared to the previous year.
About 10% of Americans aged 18 to 24 smoked cigarettes in 2017, up from 13% in 2016.
Meanwhile, the use of e-cigarettes is increasing rapidly among young people and US regulators plan to ban flavored nicotine used in battery-powered vape devices.
According to the CDC, one in five (47 million) American adults still use one form of tobacco product – including cigarettes, cigars, electronic cigarettes, narghile, or smokeless tobacco – a rate that has remained stable these last years.
Smoking is still the leading cause of preventable death and disease in the United States, killing approximately 480,000 people each year.
About 16 million Americans suffer from a smoking-related illness.
"For more than half a century, smoking has been the leading cause of cancer death in the United States," said Norman Sharpless, director of the National Cancer Institute.
"The elimination of smoking in America would, over time, eliminate about one-third of all cancer deaths."
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