Smoking Rate Declines in New York Across Most Populations

According to a press release from the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDH), it appears that New Yorkers have lost some of their compulsion to smoke. The results were presented in the latest issue of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report (MMWR) under the auspices of the national Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The report shows that in the past 5 years, the smoking rate has declined among all citizens of the Big Apple regardless of age, gender, ethnicity or country of origin.

In 2002, The Health Department's Community Health Survey recorded that 21.6% of the city's population was smoking, translating into 1,305,000 New Yorkers lighting up. By 2006, officials recorded a decrease in the smoking rate to a level of 17.5% representing the lowest figure ever recorded by the Health Department. The current smoking rate in NYC is now one of the lowest in the entire country with the exception of California, Washington, Idaho, Utah and Connecticut.

Over the past year, The City of New York has been quite active with a robust media campaign to curb smoking. Apparently, it is yielding results being that in the past 12 months alone, the smoking rate has decreased significantly for NYC men from 22.5 to 19.9%. In this same time frame, Hispanics have also shown substantial decrease with a drop in their smoking rate from 20.2 to 17.1%.

During most of the nineties the smoking rate in the city did not show any signs of improvement. During the course of this decade, however, a tobacco tax, prohibition of workplace smoking, and aggressive anti-tobacco ads appear to have ignited a consistent downward trend in smoking habits.

In the Health Department's news release, Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, The city's Health Commissioner stated that "Hard-hitting ads work, especially when they're paired with a tobacco tax and smoke-free air legislation. With nearly a quarter of a million fewer smokers, New York City is leading the way on tobacco control. There aren't many programs that can prevent 80,000 premature deaths this quickly."