The number of smokers has fallen considerably in recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. In 2022, around one in five adults worldwide smoked or consumed tobacco derivatives, compared to one in three at the turn of the millennium, the WHO says in a new report.
In it, it examines trends in smoking prevalence since 2000 and between now and 2030 and the data shows that 150 countries have successfully reduced tobacco consumption.
Cigarettes no longer seduce
While smoking rates are falling in most countries, the Organization warns that tobacco-related deaths are expected to remain high in the years to come. Its statistics show that smoking kills more than eight million people each year, including around 1.3 million non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.
The latency time between the implementation of strict tobacco control measures and the reduction in the number of deaths from smoking is around thirty years, underlines the report. And even if the number of smokers has continued to decrease, the WHO estimates that the objective of a 30% reduction in tobacco consumption between 2010 and 2025 cannot be achieved. Fifty-six countries should achieve this, including Brazil, which has already managed to reduce its tobacco consumption by 35% since 2010. Six countries, on the other hand, have seen tobacco consumption increase since 2010: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Oman and Moldova.
However, overall, the world is on track to reduce tobacco consumption by a quarter over the period 2010-2025, the report’s authors estimate.
Note that the WHO indicates that the tobacco industry is intensifying its efforts to undermine this progress, in particular by trying to get children addicted to new, highly addictive products. “Personally, I find it criminal,” Ruediger Krech, director of the WHO health promotion department in Geneva, told the press. “They kill and continue to do everything possible to undermine the excellent efforts” of countries showing progress. The organization’s statistics show that smoking kills more than eight million people each year, including about 1.3 million non-smokers exposed to second-hand smoke.