Quitting Smoking Among Adults—United States, 2001–2010

November 11, 2011 / Vol. 60 / No. 44

68.8% of current smokers say they want to completely stop smoking.
52.4% of current adult smokers say they had made a quit attempt in the past year.
6.2% of smokers say they had successfully quit in the past year.

48.3% of current smokers say they received a health professional's advice to quit in the past year.
31.7% of current smokers say they used counseling and/or medications when they tried to quit.

Desire to quit was lower among those aged > 65 years (53.8%) than those aged < 65 years (ranging from 66.7% in the 18–24 age group to 69.0% in the 45–64 age group to 72.5% in the 25–44 age group).
Desire to quit was highest among non-Hispanic Black smokers (75.6%) followed by non-Hispanic whites (69.1%), persons of other race/ethnicities (62.5%) and Hispanics (61.0%).
Desire to quit also varied by insurance status; those with Medicare (60.7%) or military insurance (55.3%) were less likely to report that they want to quit than those with private insurance (70.4%) or Medicaid (71.2%).
There was no correlation found between desire to quit and educational level. The percent wanting to quit ranged from 65.9 in high school graduates to 73.9 in those with GEDs, with all other education levels falling between these values.

White, non-Hispanic smokers quit at a rate of 6.0%
Black, non-Hispanic smokers quit at a rate of 3.3%, despite having the highest desire to quit among racial/ethnic groups
Hispanic smokers quit at a rate of 9.5%
Other races, non-Hispanic smokers quit at a rate of 10.2%