The number of smokers falls by 20 million worldwide since 2015, according to the WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that there are currently 1.3 billion tobacco users in the world, up from 1.32 billion in 2015. This number is expected to drop to 1.27 billion by 2025.

According to the WHO report, up to 70 countries are now on track to reach the voluntary global target of, while two years ago only 32 countries were in a position to do so.

“It is very encouraging to see that each year the number of people who use tobacco is decreasing and that more countries are on track to meet the global targets. We still have a long way to go and the tobacco companies will continue to use all the tricks to defend the gigantic profits they make from the sale of their deadly products. We encourage all countries to make better use of the many effective tools available to help people to ”, has commented the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The report also urges countries to accelerate the implementation of anti-tobacco measures in an effort to further reduce the number of people than from a tobacco-related disease.

“It is clear that tobacco control is effective, and we have a moral obligation to our people to act aggressively to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. We are seeing great progress in many countries, as a result of the application of tobacco control measures, but We still have to keep moving ”, has warned the director of the Department of Health Promotion of the WHO, Ruediger Krech.

The WHO document highlights that investing $ 1.68 (about one euro) per capita each year in tobacco cessation interventions such as counseling or toll-free helplines to quit smoking could help to successfully quit smoking to 2030, saving millions of lives and contributing to the long-term economic growth of countries.

To facilitate this process, WHO has created a Tobacco Cessation Consortium, which will bring together partners to support countries in scaling up tobacco cessation.

22% of the world’s population smokes

According to data provided by the United Nations international health organization, in 36.7% of all men and 7.8% of women in the world. The number of women using tobacco in 2020 was 231 million. The age group with the highest prevalence of tobacco use among women is 55-64 years.

Currently, 60 countries are on track to reach the 2025 tobacco reduction target. Since the last report two years ago, two other regions (Africa and Southeast Asia) have joined the Americas region. on track to achieve a 30% reduction.

Some 38 million children (13-15 years old) currently use tobacco (13 million girls and 25 million boys), despite the fact that it is illegal for minors to buy tobacco products in most countries.

By area, the steepest decline in prevalence rates over time is observed in the Region of the Americas: the average rate of tobacco use has passed d

Africa has the lowest average tobacco use rate, at 10 per cent in 2020, up from 15 per cent in 2010. While, in Europe, 18 per cent of women continue to use tobacco, a considerably higher percentage than in any other region.

Women in Europe are the slowest in the world to reduce tobacco use. All other WHO regions are on track to reduce tobacco use rates between

Pakistan is the only country in the Eastern Mediterranean area that is on track to meet the tobacco reduction target. Four of the six countries in the world where tobacco use is increasing are in this area. “Upper-middle-income countries are, on average, those that are making slowest progress in reducing tobacco use”, resume la OMS.

The data on which these estimates are based come from 1,728 national surveys conducted by countries between 1990 and 2020, in which 97% of the world’s population was asked about their tobacco use.

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