SMOKING STATISTICS

Smoking Statistics Since 1950

1950 was a significant year for cigarette manufacturers and cigarette consumers, for it was during that year that a major study showed the link between smoking and lung cancer. Understandably, this was an important medical finding, and it was published at a time when it was estimated that more than half of the United States' population smoked. A half century later, the connection between smoking and cancer is common knowledge and most likely contributes to the fact that today only 19.8% of Americans smoke.

However, if watching the movies were the only way to gauge the prevalence of smoking among Americans in 1950 and in the early 21st century, the conclusion would be very misleading. In 1950 there were 10.7 incidents of smoking per hour of movie viewing, and currently there are 10.9 incidents per hour. This clearly does not mimic reality since fewer people smoke now than they did in 1950 though almost the same number of cigarettes were smoked during that year, 369.8 billion in 1950 and 360 billion today.

Just as the settings of movies may be a crucial factor regarding the occurrences of smoking in these screen stories, geographic locations of smokers does matter, and smokers' locales have changed quite a bit over a half century. In the 1950s, there were more male smokers in urban areas than in rural ones, and there were more heavy smokers in the Northeast than anywhere else in the country.

The highest percentage of women who smoked resided in the West, and the lowest percentage was in the South. By 2008, the states with the lowest percentage of smokers were Utah with 11.7, California with 14.3, Massachusetts with 16.4, Minnesota with 16.5, Washington with 16.8, Oregon with 16.9, Rhode Island and Hawaii with 17, and New Jersey with 17.1. On the other hand, the states with the highest percentage of smokers are Kentucky with 28.2, West Virginia with 26.9, Oklahoma with 25.8, Missouri with 24.5, and Tennessee with 24.3.

In 1950, smoking was permitted in public places; as of July 2009, twenty-four states prohibit smoking in most public places, protecting the public from a very preventable disease.