Only 27% of U.S. Adults Smoke--Least Ever

The cigarette smoking rate in the United States has reached the lowest level ever reported, with less than 27% of adult Americans lighting up in 1986, federal health researchers said Thursday.

That figure is down nearly four percentage points from a 1985 survey and down nearly 14 points in two decades.

The first Adult Use of Tobacco Survey, taken by the national Centers for Disease Control, questioned more than 13,000 adult Americans late last year. It found that 26.5% of them smoked--29.5% of the men and 23.8% of the women.

Those numbers were down from a National Health Interview Survey of 1985, which found that 30.4% of its survey group smoked--33.2% of the men and 27.9% of the women.

Some of the difference may be due to differences between the two studies, but “our survey is (also) a large survey,” said Dr. Ron Davis, director of the CDC’s U.S. Office on Smoking and Health. “We consider our data to be very reliable.”

The nation’s smoking rate has fallen dramatically since 1964, when the U.S. surgeon general issued a warning about smoking and cancer, heart disease and other health problems. At that time, 40% of the adult population smoked--53% of men and 32% of women.