FACTBOX-US smoking death rates fall in all but one state

Jan 22 (Reuters) - Smoking death rates are falling in nearly all U.S. states, a report released by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Thursday showed.

Here are some facts from the CDC about smoking in the United States:

* Cigarette smoking and exposure to secondhand smoke killed about 443,000 people annually during the five-year period ending in 2004. The cigarette smoke caused cancer, lung disease, heart disease and other ailments.

* The annual rate of smoking-related deaths fell from 288 per 100,000 people in the four-year period ending in 1999 to 263 per 100,000 in the five years ending in 2004.

* This rate fell in 49 of the 50 U.S. states, with an increase in Oklahoma.

* More women smoked in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee and Texas. For men, Oklahoma was the only state with an increase.

* The highest smoking-related death rates were in Kentucky (370.6 deaths per 100,000 people annually), West Virginia (344.3) and Nevada (343.7). The lowest rates were in Utah (138.3), Hawaii (167.6) and Minnesota (215.1).

* About 19.8 percent of U.S. adults, or 43.4 million people, were smokers in 2007, down 1 percentage point from the previous year. It was the first time on record that the figure fell below 20 percent. The CDC said 17 percent of women and 22 percent of men were smokers in 2007.

* Smoking started becoming widespread in the 1910s. When U.S. Surgeon General Luther Terry issued a landmark report on health hazards of smoking in 1964, 42 percent of U.S. adults were smokers. (Reporting by Will Dunham in Washington; Editing by Maggie Fox and John O'Callaghan)