Indoor Tanning
Using a tanning bed, booth, sunbed, or sunlamp to darken your skin is called indoor tanning. Exposure to ultraviolet (UV) rays while indoor tanning can cause skin cancer. Healthy Peopleexternal icon provides science-based, 10-year national objectives for improving the health of all Americans. Healthy People 2020 has two objectives regarding indoor tanning—
- C-20.3: Reduce the proportion of adolescents in grades 9 through 12 who report using artificial sources of ultraviolet light for tanning.
- C-20.4: Reduce the proportion of adults aged 18 and older who report using artificial sources of ultraviolet light for tanning.
Teens
Healthy People 2020 set a target to lower the proportion of adolescents who tan indoors to 14.0% by 2020. This target has already been surpassed substantially. As of 2017, 5.6% of U.S. high school students reported using an indoor tanning device in the previous year. In 2009, 15.6% of U.S. high school students reported tanning indoors in the last year.
Percentage of U.S. High School Students Who Reported Indoor Tanning in the Past Year

Data source: 2017 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.
Adults
The Healthy People 2020 target is to lower the proportion of adults who use indoor tanning devices to 3.6% by 2020. Adults who are 50 years old or older had already surpassed this target in 2010, and continued to do so in 2015. Younger adults moved toward the target, but had not met it in 2015. In 2010, 5.6% of adults reported tanning indoors in the last year.
Percentage of U.S. Adults Who Reported Indoor Tanning in the Past Year

Data source: Guy GP Jr, Watson M, Seidenberg AB, Hartman AM, Holman DM, Perna F. Trends in indoor tanning and its association with sunburn among US adults.external icon Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology 2017;76(6):1191–1193.