Tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death.¹ Every year more than 8,000 Kentuckians die of illnesses caused by smoking.³

-Worldwide, tobacco use causes more than 5 million deaths per year, and current trends show that tobacco use will cause more than 8 million deaths annually by 2030.¹

-Cigarette smoking is responsible for about one in five deaths annually (i.e., more than 440,000 deaths per year, and an estimated 49,000 of these smoking-related deaths are the result of secondhand smoke exposure).¹

-On average, smokers die 10 years earlier than nonsmokers.¹

Tobacco use costs the United States billions of dollars each year.¹

-Total economic cost of smoking is more than $300 billion a year, including¹

-More than $225 billion in direct medical care for adults¹

-More than $156 billion in lost productivity due to premature death and exposure to secondhand smoke¹