• Adult smoking rate: 19.9% in 2007.

• Youth (grades 9-12) smoking rate: 22.3% in 2007 - down from 39.2% in 1997.

• High school youth who use smokeless (chew) tobacco: 13.0% in 2007 - down from 17.1% in 1997.

• In 2006, 30% of Nebraska's middle-school students had used some form of tobacco at least once.

• Number of people who die each year in Nebraska from smoking: 2,350+.

• Number of kids now under 18 who will likely die early from smoking (if current trends continue): 36,000.

• 96,000 kids are exposed to secondhand smoke at home.

• 4.1 million packs of cigarettes are illegally bought or smoked by kids each year.

• Annual smoking related medical costs in Nebraska: $537 million.

• Annual cost of lost productivity due to tobacco use: $499 million.

• Annual cost to Medicaid for smoking-related illnesses and diseases: $134 million.

• 97.3 percent of Nebraskans agree that inhaling smoke from a parent's cigarette harms babies and children.

• Over three-quarters (76.8 percent) of Nebraskans agree that restaurants should not allow smoking.

• The smoking rate among pregnant women in Nebraska is 14.8% (higher than the national average of 11.4%).

Sources: Nebraska Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS), Nebraska Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS), Nebraska Youth Tobacco Survey (YTS), Nebraska Vital Statistics, Nebraska Adult Tobacco/Social Climate Survey, Nebraska Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids

Updated: 5/8/08