American teen tobacco use has fallen to a 25-year-low, according to new data analyzed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Food and Drug Administration (FDA) that was released on Thursday.
The use of any tobacco product by U.S. middle and high school students has dropped from 2.25 million in 2024 compared to 2.8 million last year. The decline was attributed to a drop in the number of students using e-cigarettes, hookah and smoking cigarettes. CDC said within this past year, over half of million fewer students are using tobacco products.
The e-cigarette use has dropped from 2.13 million students in 2023 to 1.63 million in 2024. Hookah use is down too within this demographic, dropping from 290,000 students in 2023 to 190,000 this year. The CDC noted that smoking cigarettes got to the lowest point, at 1.4 percent among students in 2024, ever captured in 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 data showed that e-cigarettes were still the most commonly used tobacco product at 5.9 percent. This year, nicotine pouches were in second place at 1.8 percent. Third was cigarettes at 1.4 percent, followed by cigars, at 1.2 percent, smokeless tobacco at 1.2 percent. Hookahs were at 0.7 percent, according to the government’s data.
The use of tobacco products dropped among female students in the last year as well as among Hispanic students.
Some retailers have stopped selling tobacco products in recent years. Walmart said in 2022 that it would end selling cigarettes in some stores. Stop & Shop, a major grocery chain, said in late August this year it would halt its sales of tobacco products.
"We're headed in the right direction when it comes to reducing tobacco product use among our nation's youth," said Brian King, the director of the FDA's Center for Tobacco Products. "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."
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