The number of American adults who smoke cigarettes has hit a new low, according to results from a survey from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And for those who are lighting up, they’re smoking fewer cigarettes less often.
The survey found that 17.8% of U.S. adults, or 42.1 million people, were “current cigarette smokers” in 2013, according to the L.A. Times.
That number is the lowest percentage since the annual survey began keeping track in 1965, according to the authors of the study published Wednesday in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
The data also shows that those who smoke are smoking less. The proportion of current smokers who are daily smokers fell from 80.8% in 2005 to 76.9% in 2013.
Americans who smoke are also more likely to be multiracial or classify themselves as “American Indian/Alaska Natives” and much less likely to be Asian Americans.
There were slightly more men than women represented.
Smokers were also more likely to live in the Midwest or South and are likely to be between the ages of 25 and 44.
Smokers also were more likely to have a GED and less likely to have a postgraduate degree. They were also more likely to live below the poverty level, according to the study.
Click here to read the full results of the study from the CDC.
