Smoking has serious long-term consequences, including the risk of smoking-related diseases and premature death, as well as the increased health care costs of treating associated illnesses.⁸⁷ More than 480,000 annual deaths are attributable to tobacco use, making tobacco more lethal than all other addictive drugs. Nearly 90% of smokers start smoking by age 18. Each day, nearly 1,500 youth, ages 12–17, smoke their first cigarette, and another more than 845 youth and young adults who are occasional smokers become daily smokers.⁸⁸ The high rate of incidence and the consequences of cigarette smoking underscore the importance of studying patterns of smoking among adolescents.

Indicator BEH1: Percentage of 8th-, 10th-, and 12th-grade students who reported smoking cigarettes daily in the past 30 days by grade, 2000–2019

• In 2019, the percentages of 10th- and 12th-grade students who reported smoking cigarettes daily in the past 30 days continued to be the lowest in the history of the survey.
• In 2019, 1% of 8th-grade students, 1% of 10th-grade students, and 2% of 12th-grade students reported smoking cigarettes daily in the past 30 days compared with 7%, 14%, and 21%, respectively, in 2000.
• Daily cigarette use in the past 30 days was reported by 1% each of male and female 8th graders, by 2% of male and 1% of female 10th graders, and by 3% of male and 2% of female 12th graders.
• Also, in 2019, 4% of White, non-Hispanic 12th-grade students reported smoking cigarettes daily in the past 30 days compared with 2% each of Black, non-Hispanic 12th-grade students and Hispanic 12th-grade students.

 BEH1 HTML Table