How Common is Smoking?

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When I was a child in St. Louis, nearly all the adults I knew were smokers. Surprisingly, when I reached adulthood in the late 1960s, I did not become a smoker myself, although both my sister and brother did. My parents have both smoked for over 70 years (they are in their late 80s), and it has had an especially bad effect on my mother. She now has severe vascular dementia, as well as congestive heart disease, breathing difficulties and other health issues. So far, my dad seems OK, but that could change. My parents live with my sister and her husband in Missouri, just outside of St. Louis. Many of the other adults I saw on a recent visit were also smokers. At the opposite end of the spectrum, I live in Southern California. Both the town where I live (Laguna Woods) and the town next door (Laguna Beach) are non-smoking towns. This means it is illegal to smoke anywhere in either town unless you are either in your home or car, with the windows closed. You may not smoke outdoors, even in a park or in a private backyard. According to the Centers for Disease Control, about 15.1% of U.S. adults are smokers. In 2005, 21% of U.S. adults were smokers, so the numbers have been dropping. Here are some more interesting statistics from the CDC: The more education you have, the less likely you are to smoke. 18% of adults between the ages of 18-44 smoke 17% of adults between the ages of 45-64 smoke 8% of adults ages 65 and over smoke Poor people are more likely to smoke than people above the poverty line 19% of adults in the Midwest (where St. Louis is located) are smokers 12% of adults in the West (where California is located) are smokers More specifically: Between 20% and 23.7% of adults in Missouri are smokers Less than 12.8% of adults in California are smokers I guess it was not my imagination that there seemed to be more smokers in Missouri. The photo above shows my Dad hand-watering my sister's backyard (although she has a sprinkler system, my Dad likes to hand water certain areas). He has a cigarette in his hand while he does it. If you want to find out how many people in your state are smokers, you can read the CDC fact chart at the link below. The state-by-state map is at the bottom of the page. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/adult_data/cig_smoking/index.htm