Smoking in Louisiana, like much of the country, is down. In 2023, the latest year in which data is available, Louisiana experienced a nearly 8% drop from the last decade. That means, of those surveyed, less than 16% of Louisiana adults admitted that they smoke, which is an all-time low. And looking on a much larger scale, Those results match closely with other research. As seen below, a chart from the American Lung Association shows that in 1965 42.4% of Americans adults were considered smokers. By 2022, smoking rates had fallen 73% among adults, to 11.6%. And looking long term at youth smoking rates, they have fallen 86% from 1997 to 2021.
As the Louisiana Radio Network (LRN) reports, Chrishelle Stipe with the Louisiana Public Health Institute says while cigarette smoking is down, other tobacco use is on the rise, especially among younger people. “We’ve also seen a large increase in youth and young adults between ages 18 and 26 increasing their electronic cigarette use.”
But Stipe says other smoking alternatives, such as vaping, are on the rise, so she says the outreach must continue to evolve and to be aggressive. “We kind of battle up against other different nicotine products that are getting people hooked because the industry is ever-changing and we have to adjust how we help people stay healthy.”
