Youth Tobacco Use drops during 2011-17

Fewer U.S. middle and high school students are using tobacco products, but too many still do, according to a new survey published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) Center for Tobacco Products. In 2017, 3.6 million middle and high school students say they are current tobacco product users (used a tobacco product in the past 30 days). The number of those students is down from about 4.5 million in 2011, according to findings from the 2017 National Youth Tobacco Survey reported today in CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. E-cigarettes have been the most commonly used tobacco product among both middle and high school students since 2014. Overall, nearly 1 in 5 high school students and 1 in 18 middle school students reported current use of any tobacco product in 2017, compared to nearly 1 in 4 high school students and 1 in 13 middle school students in 2011. Among the 3.6 million tobacco product users in 2017, a total of 2.1 million used e-cigarettes. Moreover, among current tobacco users in 2017, 46.8% of high school students and 41.8% of middle school students used two or more tobacco products. Tobacco use is the leading cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, and nearly all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood. To learn more about preventing young people from using tobacco products, visit www.BeTobaccoFree.gov.