Quitting Smoking

On This Page:

Quitting smoking has major and immediate health benefits for people of all ages. Quitting smoking dramatically reduces the risk of lung and other cancers caused by smoking, coronary heart disease, stroke, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). For example, 10-15 years after quitting, the risk of lung cancer decreases to about one-half that of a person who continues to smoke; with continued abstinence from smoking, the risk of lung cancer decreases even further.

Although quitting smoking is beneficial at any age, the earlier in life a person quits, the more likely it is that they will avoid the devastating health effects of continued tobacco use. Few people who smoke quit successfully on their first attempt; most will require many attempts before they are able to permanently quit. This emphasizes the need for those who smoke to begin trying to quit as early in life as possible.

A number of strategies can increase the likelihood of successful smoking cessation. For example, comprehensive, barrier-free, and widely promoted access to insurance coverage for smoking cessation treatment increases treatment use and successful cessation. Treatments that support successful cessation include FDA approved smoking cessation medications and behavioral counseling; the combination of medication and counseling is especially effective. Behavioral counseling and support can be delivered using individual or group counseling, or by quitlines, web and internet, or text-messaging platforms. Cessation rates can also be improved by adopting population-level policies, such as tobacco product price increases, comprehensive smokefree policies, implementing anti-tobacco mass media campaigns, requiring pictorial health warnings on tobacco products, and maintaining comprehensive statewide tobacco control programs. 

Recently, the FDA announced a proposal to prohibit menthol as a characterizing flavor in cigarettes and all characterizing flavors (other than tobacco) in cigars. These proposed rules have the potential to significantly reduce the death and disease caused by smoking by reducing youth use and experimentation, and by increasing the number of people that quit. In addition, the FDA also announced plans to develop a proposed product standard that would establish a maximum nicotine level to reduce the addictiveness of cigarettes and some other combustible tobacco products. The goal of this proposed product standard would be to reduce youth use, addiction, and death.

Attempt to quit: The percentage of adults (aged 18 years and older) who attempted to quit smoking within the past 12 months. The numerator of this measure includes both people who currently smoke every day or some days and who, at the time of the survey, had quit smoking for at least 1 day during the past 12 months, as well as people who quit smoking less than or equal to 1 year ago. The denominator of this measure includes all adults who smoked 12 months prior to the survey.

Successful quitting: The percentage of adults (aged 18 years and older) who smoke and successfully quit smoking in the past 12 months. The numerator of this measure includes adults who quit smoking 6-12 months prior to the survey. The denominator of this measure includes adults who:

  1. Formerly smoked and had quit smoking 6-12 months prior to the survey.
  2. Formerly smoked and had quit smoking less than 6 months prior to the survey.
  3. Currently smoked at the time of the survey and who initiated smoking at least 2 years prior to the survey.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, National Health Interview Survey 1998-2022.

Refer to the Data Sources page for more information about data collection years 2019+.

  • Increase to 65.7 percent the proportion of adults who currently smoked (aged 18 years and older) who stopped smoking for a day or longer because they were trying to quit.
  • Increase to 10.6 percent the proportion of adults who smoked (aged 18 years and older) who successfully quit smoking.

Healthy People 2030 is a set of goals set forth by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Note: Goals are indicated as blue line on Detailed Trend Graphs.

Quitting Smoking Resources
1998-2022
2018-2022
Stable
Rising
Smoking Cessation