Adult Smoking Rates All Time Low: CDC

US health regulators are optimistic as smoking rates in the country have touched an all-time low in the last one year.

According to Health Day, only about 15 percent of US adults smoke as against 17 percent last year. The rates have been decreasing since 2010 mainly due to tough anti-smoking campaigns. The data also shows that a higher percentage of men continue to smoke compared to women. Smoking rate among African-American adults is higher than that for other groups.

"The prevalence of current cigarette smoking among U.S. adults declined from 24.7% in 1997 to 15.2% in January-March 2015," CDC said based on data from National Health Interview Survey for January-March 2015.

Health experts hope that the trend continues and more states introduce smoke-free laws. As on today only one state - North Dakota- has comprehensive smoke-free laws.

"These [new] numbers show that America's current anti-smoking strategy works, and that we need to do "more of the same. It could have an impact on the smoking rate, and definitely would protect more people from secondhand smoke," Thomas Carr, director of national policy for the American Lung Association, told Health Day.

He added that 22 states have not passed any restrictions on smoking in public space.