The CDC estimates that 46 million people, or 20.6% of all adults in the US, smoke cigarettes. A higher percentage of men (23.5) smoke than women (17.9). Over 80% of adult smokers begin smoking before age 18, and about 17.2% of high school students are current smokers. Fortunately, smoking is on the decline. From 1998 to 2008, there was a 3.5% decline in the number of US adults who were current cigarette smokers. Aggressive stop-smoking campaigns, like those in California, have helped drop those numbers even lower in certain states.
