Tobacco & Vaping 101: Louisiana

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 Louisiana. This information aslo includes data on youth use, impacts of e-cigarettes and analyses of existing tobacco monies.

Key Points: 

• In 2021, 19.5 percent of adults were currently smoking in Louisiana. This is a 6.5 percent increase from 2020.
• In 2021 (among all Louisiana adults), 13.3 percent of 18- to 24-year-olds, 22.9 percent of 25–44-year-olds, 23.1 percent of 45–64-year-olds, and 12.5 percent of adults aged 65 years or older were currently smoking combustible cigarettes.
• Among all adults earning $25,000 or less in 2021, 32.1 percent were currently smoking compared to only 13.1 percent of adults earning $50,000 or more.
• Among all smoking adults in 2021 in Louisiana, 64 percent were White, 35.1 percent were Black, and 0.9 percent identified as “Other.”
• Cigarette excise taxes in Louisiana disproportionately impact low income, low education persons, while failing to significantly reduce smoking rates among that class.
• The percentage of Louisiana adults earning $25,000 or less that were smoking increased by 7.5 percent between 2016 and 2021, while the percentage of adults earning $50,000 or more that were smoking decreased by 19.1 percent during the same period.
• Among Louisianans who did not graduate high school, smoking rates decreased by 1.9 percent, yet rates among adults with a college degree decreased by 26.5 percent.
• In 2021, nine percent of adults reported past-month e-cigarette use, which was a 100 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 Louisiana adults aged 18 to 24 years old declined by 49.8 percent. Since 2019, young adult smoking rates have decreased another 20.8 percent, with average annual declines of 2.3 percent.
• Louisiana 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 $0.01 on tobacco control efforts.