PORTLAND – Ten years after the tobacco settlement, a national report ranks Maine sixth in the nation for what it spends to keep people from smoking.

The report by a coalition of public health groups said Maine currently spends $11.7 million a year on tobacco prevention programs. That’s less than the $18.5 million recommended by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Maine is one of only nine states that funds tobacco prevention programs at more than half the amount recommended by the CDC.

At the bottom of the list is South Carolina. It will collect $114 million this year from the tobacco settlement and taxes, but it’s the only state that budgeted no state money for smoking cessation and prevention.