Global rates of tobacco use are continuing to fall, a new World Health Organization report shows.
Published yesterday, the fourth WHO global tobacco trends report states that 1.3 billion people use tobacco, down from 1.32 billion in 2015. This represents 22.3% of the global population – 36.7% of men and 7.8% of women.
The report indicates that 60 countries are on track to achieve the tobacco use reduction target, that is, a 30% reduction in tobacco use between 2010 and 2025. This figure was only 32 countries in the previous report two years ago.
Tobacco use among children aged 13 to 15 stands at about 38 million – 13 million girls and 25 million boys.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said millions of lives have been saved by effective and comprehensive tobacco control policies under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control and the MPOWER policy package.
He said: “It is very encouraging to see fewer people using tobacco each year, and more countries on track to meet global targets. We still have a long way to go, and tobacco companies will continue to use every trick in the book to defend the gigantic profits they make from peddling their deadly wares.
"We encourage all countries to make better use of the many effective tools available for helping people to quit and saving lives.”
Dr Ruediger Krech, of the WHO Department of Health Promotion, added: “It is clear that tobacco control is effective, and we have a moral obligation to our people to move aggressively in order to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
“We are seeing great progress in many countries, which is the result of implementing tobacco control measures, but this success is fragile. We still need to push ahead.”
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