The number of adults who use tobacco around the world has steadily declined in recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) noted on Tuesday, January 16. In 2022, around one in five adults in the world smoked or consumed tobacco derivatives, compared to one in three at the turn of the millennium, notes the WHO in a new report. Examining trends in tobacco prevalence since 2000 and through to 2030 shows that 150 countries have successfully reduced tobacco consumption.
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 8 million people each year, including about 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 however succeed, including Brazil, which has already managed to reduce its tobacco consumption by 35% since 2010.
The tobacco industry does not intend to stand idly by
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.
The WHO warns, however, that the tobacco industry does not intend to sit idly by. “Notable progress has been made in the fight against tobacco in recent years, but now is not the time for complacency”warned Ruediger Krech, director of the WHO health promotion department, in a press release.
“I am amazed at the lengths the tobacco industry is willing to go to make profits at the expense of countless lives”he accused, emphasizing that as soon as a country thinks it has won the war against tobacco, the tobacco industry reopens a new front.