The number of U.S. teens and twenty-somethings currently using tobacco products is the lowest it has been in 25 years.
According to the 2024 National Youth Smoking Survey; only 8 percent of middle school and high school students, or 2.25 million people, reported using any tobacco product in the past 30 days. As recently as 2019, 23 percentor just over 6 million people, reported current tobacco use, and that proportion was almost entirely due to e-cigarette use.
E-cigarettes remain the most popular option, with 6 percent of middle and high school students using them by 2024, researchers reported Oct. 17. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. Nicotine pouches (products that release nicotine when placed between the cheek and gums) took second place for the first time, accounting for nearly 2%, followed by cigarettes, cigars, and smokeless tobacco. The National Youth Tobacco Survey began measuring student smoking status in 1999.
Ten percent of high school students reported using any tobacco product in the past 30 days, compared with 5.4 percent of middle school students. Just under 8 percent of high school students will report currently using e-cigarettes in 2024, down from 10 percent in 2023. This loss of 350,000 high school students is a major reason for the decline in current use of any product among all students surveyed.
Disparities in tobacco use continue to exist among teens and young adults of different races and ethnicities. Past research has shown that The tobacco industry has long targeted specific groups through advertising and marketing.including promoting menthol cigarettes to black communities and using tribal icons to target American Indians and Alaska Natives.
Tobacco use most often begins during adolescence, when exposure to nicotine, the addictive substance in cigarettes, can be particularly harmful to teens’ developing brains (SN: June 30, 2015). Nicotine affects learning, memory, and attention. Tobacco control programs at the federal, state, and local levels have contributed to the decline in use, the researchers wrote.
