Smoking Cessation: Fast Facts

Quitting Tobacco Use

Tobacco use can lead to tobacco dependence and serious health problems. Quitting smoking greatly reduces the risk of developing smoking-related diseases.

Tobacco dependence is a condition driven by nicotine addiction. It often requires multiple tries to quit successfully, but there are helpful treatments and resources for quitting.

People who smoke can and do quit smoking for good. In fact, since 2002, there have been more people who used to smoke than people who currently smoke.

U.S. adult smoking cessation behaviors

Most adults who smoke cigarettes want to quit.

• In 2022, 67.7% of adults who smoked said they wanted to quit smoking.

Half of adults who smoke cigarettes report trying to quit in the past year.

• In 2022, 53.3% of adults who smoked said they had tried to quit in the past year.

Less than 1 in 10 adults who smoke cigarettes succeed in quitting each year.

• In 2022, 8.8% of adults who smoked were able to successfully quit smoking in the past year.

Only half of adults who smoke cigarettes who saw a health professional during the past year received advice or assistance to quit.

In 2022, among adults who smoked and saw a health professional during the past year:

• 50.5% reported receiving advice to quit from a health professional.
• 49.2% reported receiving assistance to quit—advice about ways to quit or a prescription for a quit-smoking medicine—from a health professional.

Even brief advice (less than 3 minutes) from a health professional improves the chance of quitting successfully and is highly cost-effective.

Less than 4 in 10 adults who smoke cigarettes used proven treatments—counseling or medication approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)—when trying to quit smoking.

In 2022, among adults who smoked and tried to quit in the last year or successfully quit in the last 2 years:

• 38.3% used counseling or medication when trying to quit.
• 7.3% used counseling when trying to quit.
• 36.3% used medication when trying to quit.
• 5.3% used both counseling and medication when trying to quit. Using counseling and medication together provides the best chance of quitting successfully.

Nearly 2 in 3 adults who have ever smoked cigarettes have quit.

• In 2021, 66.5% of adults who ever smoked cigarettes had quit.

U.S. youth tobacco cessation behaviors

Most youth who use tobacco want to quit, and most report trying to quit in the past year.

In 2021, among middle and high school students who currently used tobacco products:

• 65.3% reported they were seriously thinking about quitting the use of all tobacco products.
• 60.2% reported they had stopped using all tobacco products for 1 day or longer in the past year because they were trying to quit.