Tobacco & Vaping 101: Delaware

Lawmakers are often bombarded with misinformation on the products used by adults in their state. This annual analysis provides up-to-date data on the adults who use cigarettes and e-cigarette products in Delaware. This information aslo includes data on youth use, impacts of e-cigarettes and analyses of existing tobacco monies.

Key Points: 

• In 2021, 13.4 percent of adults were currently smoking in Delaware. This is an 11.3 percent decrease from 2020.
• In 2021 (among all Delaware adults), 5.1 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, 19.1 percent of 25–44-year-olds, 15 percent of 45–64-year-olds, and 8.4 percent of adults aged 65 years or older were currently smoking combustible cigarettes.
• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2021, 26.7 percent were currently smoking compared to only 9.4 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.
• Among all smoking adults in 2021 in Delaware, 77.5 percent were White, 16.5 percent were Black, 4.2 percent were Hispanic, and only 1.7 percent were Multiracial, non-Hispanic.
• Cigarette excise taxes in Delaware disproportionately impact low-income persons, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.
• The number of percent of Delawarean adults earning $25,000 or less that were smoking decreased by only 4.1 percent between 2017 and 2021, while the percent of adults earning $50,000 or more that were smoking decreased by 29.7 percent during the same period.
• In 2021, 6.1 percent of adults reported past-month e-cigarette use, which was a 27.1 percent increase from 2017.
• The introduction of e-cigarettes has not led to increases in cigarette smoking, but rather, correlates with significant declines in smoking rates among young adults.
• Between 2007 and 2018, smoking rates among Delaware adults aged 18 to 24 years old declined by 53.1 percent. Since 2018, young adult smoking rates have decreased another 51.4 percent, with average annual declines of 11.6 percent.
• Delaware woefully underfunds programs to prevent youth use of tobacco and/or vapor products and help adults quit smoking, while simultaneously receiving millions of dollars from the pockets of the adults who smoke. In 2021, for every $1 the state received in tobacco monies, it spent only $0.05 on tobacco control efforts.