A survey presented by the state Department of Health and Human Services says the percentage of North Carolina teens who smoke has hit an all-time low.

The North Carolina Youth Tobacco Survey presented Thursday showed 4.3 percent of middle school students and 15.5 percent of high school students smoked cigarettes. That rate has dropped steadily in North Carolina since 2003.

The agency correlated that data with its Tobacco. Reality. Unfiltered non-smoking campaign. When that campaign was launched in 2003, 9.3 percent of middle school students and 43 percent of high school students smoked.

Funding for the program was relocated to the department’s budget last year and is not set to recur.

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