In a significant shift in consumer behavior, cigarette sales in the United States have plummeted to their lowest level since the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) began tracking them in 1963. In 2021, the FTC reported a sale of 190.2 billion cigarettes, marking a considerable decline from the 200 billion mark for the first time.
Over the past four decades, cigarette sales have steadily decreased, dropping by more than 50 percent since 2000 and an astounding 70 percent since their peak in the early 1980s. In contrast, cigarette advertising and promotional spending have increased from $1.2 billion in 1980 to $8.1 billion in 2021, with the majority of the latter coming in the form of wholesale and retail price discounts.
Despite the decline in cigarette sales, the number of cigarette smokers in the United States has also decreased over the past four decades. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), an estimated 28.3 million adults in the U.S. smoked cigarettes in 2021, representing a 45 percent decrease from the 51.6 million smokers in 1980.
This shift in smoking habits may be attributed to a growing awareness of the health risks associated with cigarette smoking, as well as increased public smoking bans and higher taxes on tobacco products. As a result, the once-glamorous image of smoking has lost some of its allure, and the future of cigarette sales in the United States remains uncertain.
