Tobacco use is the biggest cause of preventable disease and death in the United States, and almost all tobacco use begins during youth and young adulthood. Survey evidence shows that current tobacco use (in the past 30 days) among high school students fell from 24.2 percent (estimated 3.69 million users) in 2011 to 19.6 percent (2.95 million) in 2017. Among middle school students, current tobacco use decreased from 7.5 percent in 2011 to 5.6 percent in 2017.
In 2017, electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were the most commonly used tobacco product among high school students, with 11.7 percent of respondents admitting they consumed tobacco by this method in the last 30 days. This proportion of high schoolers using e-cigarettes was nearly the same as in 2016, and far below the 2015 level of 16 percent.
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