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Reuters:
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Smoking rates are down in the United States, but not enough to reach the federal goal of 12 percent of adults by 2010, the government reported on Thursday.
In 2002, 22.5 percent of U.S. adults described themselves as smokers, down slightly from 2001, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
This rate of decline will not be enough to get the national smoking rate down to 12 percent, the goal set by the U.S. Health and Human Services Department for 2010, the CDC said.
Smoking is the leading cause of death in the United States and is blamed for killing 430,000 people a year from heart disease, stroke, cancer and other causes. The CDC said the economic toll exceeds $150 billion $3,400 per smoker.
The poor and less educated continue to be the biggest smokers, and more efforts need to be directed at these groups to encourage them to quit smoking, the CDC said.
"During 1983 to 2002, adults with household incomes below the poverty level and those with less than some college education consistently had higher smoking prevalence," the CDC said in its annual report on smoking.
Nearly 33 percent of adults living below the poverty level smoked, compared to 22 percent of those above the poverty level.
"The gap between Americans of different socioeconomic strata has not narrowed and may have increased from 1983 to 2002," the report said.
For the study the CDC interviewed more than 31,000 Americans over the age of 18.
"Respondents were asked, 'Have you smoked at least 100 cigarettes in your entire life?' and 'Do you now smoke cigarettes every day, some days, or not at all?"' the CDC said.
Men are still more likely to smoke than women, with 25 percent of men and 20 percent of women saying they were smokers. The survey found that 28.5 of those aged 18 to 24 years smoked but just 9.3 percent of those aged more than 65 did.
American Indians and Alaska Natives reported 40.8 percent smoked while Asians at 13 percent and Hispanics at 16.7 percent were nearing the government's 12 percent goal.
The CDC estimates that 45.8 million U.S. adults were smokers in 2002, and 41 percent said they had tried to quit at least once.
"In the United States, on average, men and women who smoke have their lives cut short by 13.2 and 14.5 years, respectively," the CDC said.
"Each year, secondhand smoke is associated with thousands of new cases of asthma, bronchitis, and pneumonia among children and an increased risk for sudden infant death syndrome," it added.
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