Louisiana is one 12 contiguous states in the Deep South and Midwest dubbed “Tobacco Nation,” where the average rate of smoking has declined at a much slower pace than in the rest of the country, according to a new report from Truth Initiative, a Washington, D.C.-based anti-smoking group.
Aside from Louisiana, “Tobacco Nation” includes Alabama, Arkansas, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee and West Virginia.
In these states, 22% of adults smoke, compared to 15% in the rest of the nation, giving the area the highest concentration of smokers in the country. The area is less diverse than the rest of the nation, has poorer health outcomes and is less financially well off, with individuals earning on average 21% less per year than the rest of the U.S.
“We think of the United States as being the most technologically advanced, richest nation in the world, with access to some of the best science and health care,” Truth Initiative President Robin Koval tells Bloomberg. “Yet when you look at what we call Tobacco Nation, it looks more like a part of the developing world than it looks like the United States of America.”
Read the full Bloomberg story and view the report.
