Smoking is responsible for one of every five deaths in the United States. Moreover, it is the single most important preventable cause of death in our society. More black Americans smoke cigarettes, over other tobacco products, than their white counterparts. Although the smoking rate for blacks is higher than for white smokers, black smokers smoke fewer cigarettes per day.
Black smokers suffer from a higher incidence of smoking-related illnesses than white smokers.
The following summarizes the most recent smoking information for African Americans in the United States Cigarette Smoking Prevalence Smoking rates among black adults are higher than those for whites, even though the pattern of decline in smoking rates is similiar for both groups. In 1988, more than 50 million Americans smoked cigarettes. Of those 50 million current smokers, about 6 million are black. Recent studies demonstrate that cigarette smoking behaviors vary by race and by sex. Cigarettes are the most popular tobacco product among blacks, as they are among the general population.