The number of people smoking in the United States went up slightly last year. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports nearly 21-percent of Americans, roughly 46 million, were lighting up in 2008.
CDC researchers say the smoking rate in the U.S. had held steady, at around 20-percent for the past five years.
A different survey, published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR), shows smoking rates vary by state. In West Virginia, Indiana and Kentucky, about 26-percent - or one in four citizens - is a smoker. Oklahoma, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee -- had rates about as high.
California, New Jersey and Utah have the fewest smokers. However, Utah, with only about 9-percent of residents lighting up, had the lowest smoking rate of all.
CDC officials say many of the states that have the lowest smoking rates are those that have been the most aggressive about indoor smoking laws and about state taxes that drive up the cost of cigarettes.
About 20-million smokers said they had tried quitting for at least one day in the past year.
People with less than a high school education are the most likely to smoke, and the least likely to quit. The study revealed in 2008, 41.3 percent of persons with a General Education Development certificate smoked cigarettes, compared to 5.7 percent of persons with a graduate degree.
Smoking is the leading preventable cause of death, killing more than 443,000 people every year and costing the nation $96 billion in health care costs annually.
Experts say anti-smoking policies and taxes on cigarettes can have an impact on smoking rates.
