Just 8.5 percent of high-school students in New York City identified themselves as smokers in 2007, the lowest rate ever, the Associated Press reported Jan. 3.

The biannual survey found that the smoking rate among high-school students fell from 11 percent in 2005 and 23 percent in 1997. New York's aggressive antismoking policies, including heavy taxes, widespread smoking bans, and a stop-smoking ad campaign, received credit for the decline.

The city also employs a cadre of young inspectors who check retailers' compliance with the age-18 tobacco-purchase law.

Nationally, 23 percent of teens smoked in 2005.