Adult smoking in California has fallen to 14 percent, the lowest rate ever recorded, the Associated Press reported April 20.

The California Department of Health Services reported this week that the adult smoking rate in the state has fallen 38 percent since a state-funded stop-smoking campaign began in 1998. The 2005 smoking rate fell 14.6 percent compared to 2004.

"The ongoing decrease in the number of people smoking in California is a major public-health achievement," said state public-health official Mark Horton. "With California adults smoking 25 percent less than the rest of the nation, our state continues to benefit from lower rates of tobacco-related illnesses."

The smoking rate for adult California males was 17 percent last year; 11.1 percent of women smoked. However, 18 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds smoked.