Good news for Americans’ health: Cigarette sales in 2005 declined 4.2% from 2004 to 378 billion cigarettes in the United States. This is the lowest number since 1951. Cigarette sales have fallen by more than 21% since the state attorneys general negotiated the landmark 1998 tobacco agreement with the tobacco companies. The agreement imposed public health restrictions on the advertising, promotion and marketing of cigarettes by tobacco companies. This decline is even more impressive because the U.S. population has more than doubled since 1951.

Source: National Association of Attorneys General. www.naag.org.