A Centers for Disease Control report shows Kentucky's ranking in percentage of high school cigarette smokers has dropped.
Gov. Steve Beshear's office said Kentucky was sixth among surveyed states in 2013, compared with a first-place ranking in 2011.
Beshear's office says the report showed 17.9 percent of Kentucky high school students reported smoking, down from 24.1 percent in 2011.
The rate nationwide is 15.7 percent.
Beshear says he's glad to see the downward trend but wants to further reduce cigarette use by teens. Beshear's office says the drop means Kentucky met its Healthy Kentuckians 2020 goal of reducing youth smoking to 19 percent and is moving toward another goal of reducing Kentucky's smoking rate by 10 percent in the next five years.
The report is available at http://www.cdc.gov/yrbs .