EDIT: List of countries by cigarette consumption per capita - Wikipedia The US, in general, doesn't smoke less than European countries. But it doesn't say much about teens. read more
The puzzle becomes larger once we account for cigarette prices and anti-smoking regulations, which are both higher in Europe. There is a nonmonotonic relationship between smoking and income; among richer countries and people, higher incomes are associated with less smoking. This can account for about one-fifth of the U.S./Europe difference. read more