American Smokers Using Fewer Cigarettes, New Poll Suggests

Smokers are using fewer cigarettes, a new Gallup poll suggests. Only 1 percent of smokers say they smoke more than a pack a day, and 68 percent say they smoke less than one pack a day.

The percentage of smokers who said they smoked more than a pack a day peaked at 30 percent in 1978. The rate fell below 10 percent in the late 1990s, Fox News reports. An estimated 31 percent of smokers say they go through a pack a day, a percentage that has remained relatively constant in recent years, according to Gallup.

The researchers acknowledged that it is possible that more people say they are smoking less because that answer is more “socially desirable,” but are actually smoking more than they reported.

The poll found 88 percent of smokers said they wish they had never started smoking, and 78 percent said they would like to quit.