Status: 11/16/2021 5:46 p.m.
According to the WHO, fewer and fewer people worldwide are consuming tobacco products. Consumption has fallen over the past 20 years, particularly among 15 to 24 year olds. The WHO expects the trend to continue.
Global tobacco consumption is falling. Despite an increase in the world population, the number of tobacco users is falling continuously, as reported by the World Health Organization (WHO). She expects the trend to continue.
Among the 15 to 24 year olds, the proportion of those who consume tobacco fell from 20.8 percent to 14.2 percent between 2000 and 2020. In 2025 it will probably only be 13 percent.
1.3 billion people smoke
Last year, according to the WHO Trend Report, there were 1.3 billion tobacco consumers aged 15 and over worldwide. Five years earlier it was 1.32 billion. During the same period, the world population grew from around 7.3 to 7.8 billion people.
The WHO estimates the proportion of consumers in the world population aged 15 and over in 2020 to be 22.3 percent. In Germany, according to WHO information, it is 19.6 percent. The WHO anticipates a decrease to 1.27 billion tobacco users in 2025.
Every third man smokes
36.7 percent of all men worldwide used tobacco products and 7.8 percent of all women. This refers to smoking cigarettes, cigars and pipes as well as the consumption of snuff, sucking or chewing tobacco. More than 90 percent of tobacco is smoked; some of the smokers also chew, suck or sniff it.
Electronic cigarettes that do not contain tobacco are not included in the report. And: According to WHO data, there are no surveys from too many countries for statements about global distribution.
Europe region is lagging behind
The WHO worries about the Europe region, which includes 53 countries as far as Turkmenistan and Israel. 18 percent of women here still consumed tobacco, significantly more than in other regions. The proportion is only slowly decreasing.
In Western Europe, according to the WHO figures for 2020, tobacco consumption was rather low in Iceland (11.9 percent) and Great Britain (14.3); rather high in France (28.7) and Spain (24.5). Germany is in the middle of the field.
Every year seven million deaths from tobacco use
According to WHO data, tobacco kills up to half of people who smoke or consume otherwise. Seven million people die each year as a result of their tobacco use. 1.2 million non-smokers die because they get tobacco smoke from others.
“We still have a long way to go,” said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “The tobacco industry will use any ploy to defend the gigantic profits it makes from selling its deadly products.”
The WHO recommends advice from general practitioners on the gain in quality of life without tobacco as well as free hotlines and SMS services to support tobacco users in the process of quitting. As a result alone, around 88 million people worldwide could get away from tobacco consumption by 2030 and 1.4 million human lives could be saved, it said.