map shows rates of smoking in colors, North Carolina is in the second highest group of rates
Map courtesy: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Data compiled by Rose Hoban

The absorption of Reynolds America by British American Tobacco is big news in North Carolina, one of the largest tobacco producers in the world for many years.

While it’s still unclear how the acquisition will affect jobs and the economy in places such as Winston-Salem, it is clear that North Carolina still has lots of smokers, about 19 percent of all adults use cigarettes.

Map courtesy: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

According to the North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey, last performed in 2015 among 6th to 12th graders, about three in every ten high-schoolers and one in ten middle-schoolers had used some kind of tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, in the 30 days before they were surveyed.

Data and chart courtesy: NC DHHS Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch

That puts North Carolina rates at the higher end of youth smoking rates in the US.

Map courtesy: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The survey also found more young people were considering using e-cigarettes, if they weren’t using them already. That’s happening even as the use of traditional cigarettes is down from 2011.

Data and chart courtesy: NC DHHS Tobacco Prevention and Control Branch

Nationally, rates of smoking have fallen over the years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But there are big differences by ethnicity.


Chart credit: Statista

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Rose Hoban

Rose Hoban is the founder and editor of NC Health News, as well as being the state government reporter. Hoban has been a registered nurse since 1992, but transitioned to journalism after earning degrees...