Because of smoking s addictive nature, many people continue to smoke once the practice has started. In one sense, the nation our society at large may also be addicted to the tobacco industry. Most often portrayed as an individual concern, smoking may also have a social aspect as seen in increased health-care costs and lost production. B. Patterns and trends of tobacco use. Cigarette smoking is now at its lowest level in forty years with an estimated 23-28 percent of adults now classified as smokers some 50 million people.
Prevalence of smoking remains high in lower socioeconomic classes.
U.S. production at 702 billion cigarettes per year an all time high, mainly because of foreign demand. Per capita domestic consumption now just 2,900 fewer people are smoking, but smokers are smoking more. Smoking was formerly a male-only activity. Over the past several years, cigarette use by women has lost its stigma women are smoking and dying like men. Proportion of both men and women smokers have declined over the past 20 years but numbers of men smokers has dropped more rapidly than women smokers.