Trends in Cigarette Smoking Among High School Students—United States, 1991–2001

28.5% of high school students currently smoke cigarettes, down from 36.4% in 1997 and 34.8% in 1999. Current smoking is defined as having smoked on one or more days of the 30 days preceding the survey.
If teen smoking prevalence continues to decline at the current rate, the United States could achieve the 2010 national health objective of reducing current smoking rates among high school students to 16%.
Lifetime cigarette use among high school students is 63.9%, down from 70.4% in 1999.
Current frequent smoking, defined as smoking on at least 20 of the 30 days preceding the survey, decreased from 16.8% in 1999 to 13.8% in 2001.
In 2001, as in previous years, white and Hispanic students were significantly more likely than black students to report current smoking.

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