American teen tobacco use has fallen to a 25-year-low, in line with new information analyzed by the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention (CDC) and Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) that was launched on Thursday.
The usage of any tobacco product by U.S. center and highschool college students has dropped from 2.25 million in 2024 in comparison with 2.8 million final 12 months. The decline was attributed to a drop within the variety of college students utilizing e-cigarettes, hookah and smoking cigarettes. CDC mentioned inside this previous 12 months, over half of million fewer college students are utilizing tobacco merchandise.
The e-cigarette use has dropped from 2.13 million college students in 2023 to 1.63 million in 2024. Hookah use is down too inside this demographic, dropping from 290,000 college students in 2023 to 190,000 this 12 months. The CDC famous that smoking cigarettes bought to the bottom level, at 1.4 % amongst college students in 2024, ever captured within the survey.
“Reaching a 25-year low for youth tobacco product use is an extraordinary milestone for public health,” said Deirdre Lawrence Kittner, CDC’s Office on Smoking and Health. “However, with more than 2 million youth using tobacco products and certain groups not experiencing declines in use, our mission is far from complete.”
Kittner added that “we must remain committed to public health efforts to ensure all youth can live healthy, tobacco-free lives.”
The info confirmed that e-cigarettes had been nonetheless essentially the most generally used tobacco product at 5.9 %. This 12 months, nicotine pouches had been in second place at 1.8 %. Third was cigarettes at 1.4 %, adopted by cigars, at 1.2 %, smokeless tobacco at 1.2 %. Hookahs had been at 0.7 %, in line with the federal government’s information.
The usage of tobacco merchandise dropped amongst feminine college students within the final 12 months in addition to amongst Hispanic college students.
Some retailers have stopped promoting tobacco merchandise lately. Walmart mentioned in 2022 that it might finish promoting cigarettes in some shops. Cease & Store, a serious grocery chain, mentioned in late August this 12 months it might halt its gross sales of tobacco merchandise.
“We’re headed in the right direction when it comes to reducing tobacco product use among our nation’s youth,” mentioned Brian King, the director of the FDA’s Heart for Tobacco Merchandise. “But we can’t take our foot off the gas. Continued vigilance is needed to continue to reduce all forms of tobacco product use among youth. Addressing disparities remains an essential part of these efforts to ensure that we don’t leave anyone behind.”
