The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), just days after announcing cigarette smoking prevalence among adults fell to a record low 16.8 per cent last year, said half-year estimates for 2015 put the rate at 14.9 per cent.

Since 1997, the smoking rate has plunged nearly nearly10 percentage points from 24.7 per cent to just below 15 per cent, according to data from the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics. Smoking among males at 17 per cent was higher than among females (12.9 per cent) through six months of 2015.