Smoking among young Americans has decreased in recent years, but still, 1,000 teens take up the habit each and every day. According to the first U.S. Surgeon General's office report on youth tobacco use since 1994, 80 percent of smokers are hooked before they're even old enough to buy a pack. "The numbers are really shocking," Surgeon General Regina Benjamin tells USA Today. "It's a problem we have to solve." Here, a look at America's teen smoking "epidemic," by the numbers:
3,800
Teens under 18 who tried their first cigarette on a typical day in 2008, the last year for which data is available
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1,000
Number of those teens who go on to become daily smokers
1,200
Americans who die each day from smoking-related causes
3.6 million
U.S. teens who smoke cigarettes
1 in 4
Ratio of high school seniors who smoke. The rate has fallen since the late '90s, when it was closer to 1 in 3. However, the rate of decline hit a standstill in 2007.
1 in 3
Americans under 26 who smoke
80
Percentage of adult smokers who began smoking by age 18
99
Percentage of adult smokers who began smoking by age 26
More than $1 million
Money spent on the marketing and promotion of tobacco products per hour. That's more than $27 million each day.
$10 billion
Amount the tobacco industry spent on cigarette marketing in 2008, a 48 percent increase from a decade earlier
$4.74
Cost in summer 2011 for a pack of cigarettes in West Virginia, the cheapest state
$11.90
Cost in summer 2011 for a pack of cigarettes in New York, the most expensive state
1 in 5
Deaths in the United States attributed to tobacco use
Sources: The Awl, CBS News, Medpage Today, MSNBC, Surgeon General (PDF), USA Today
