Smoking Rates: Pack-A-Day Smoking Is Down Dramatically

Over the last 40 years, the number of people who smoke a pack a day has dropped significantly, a new study finds. And California -- with its comprehensive anti-smoking efforts -- has led the charge.

The report, published yesterday in JAMA, tracked the prevalence of heavy smokers (defined as people who smoke 20 cigarettes or more, per day) among more than a million-and-a-half respondents between 1965 and 2007.

Researchers from the University of California San Diego found that in 1965 -- the year after the first-ever surgeon general's report on smoking and health -- 56 percent of people who identified as smokers were heavy, or pack-a-day, smokers. By 2007, that percentage dropped dramatically, to only 40 percent.

Female 'Empowerment' Is Great — Except When it Comes to Smoking

What does "empowerment" mean for women around the globe? More smoking deaths, for one. The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) reports that in countries where more women work in government office, have equal voting rights and relative parity to men in terms of income, women also smoke more.

The UNDP measured levels of national female empowerment in 74 countries. In countries with poor female empowerment scores, like China, Pakistan, Uganda and Saudi Arabia, men were five times more likely to smoke than women. By contrast, in countries like Australia, Canada, Sweden and the U.S., where women have made great strides toward gender equality, the unfortunate side effect is a parity of a different kind: women smoke almost as much as men do.