The number of adults who use tobacco around the world has steadily declined in recent years, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday, although it warned that the industry is not giving up. In 2022, around one in five adults in the world, or a total of 1.25 billion people, smoked or consumed tobacco derivatives, compared to one in three at the turn of the millennium, the WHO recalled in a new report. Data shows that 150 countries have successfully reduced tobacco consumption.
But although smoking rates are falling in most countries, the WHO has warned that tobacco-related deaths are expected to remain high in the years to come. Tobacco kills more than eight million people each year worldwide, including approximately 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.
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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, and the Netherlands on the verge of achieving this. Six countries, on the other hand, have seen tobacco consumption increase since 2010: Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Oman and Moldova. Southeast Asia currently smokes the most with 26.5% of adult smokers, but Europe (25.3% smokers) is expected to have the highest rates in the world by 2030. , with a prevalence slightly higher than 23%. In France, in 2022 there were nearly 30% smokers among those over 15 years old.
But the WHO warns that the tobacco industry has no intention of standing idly by. “I am amazed at the lengths the tobacco industry is willing to go to make profits at the expense of countless lives,” said Ruediger Krech, director of WHO’s health promotion department. , in a press release. “Notable progress has been made in the fight against tobacco in recent years, but now is not the time to remain inactive,” he warned, stressing that as soon as a country thinks it has won the war against tobacco, the tobacco industry is reopening a new front.
New Zealand will not become the world’s first smoke-free country
The WHO draws attention to new so-called smoke-free products and calls for collecting as much data as possible regarding their success with adolescents. Thus, 10% of young people aged 13 to 15 around the world consume one or more types of tobacco. This represents at least 37 million adolescent consumers, including at least 12 million who use these new products. These figures are largely underestimated since more than 70 countries provide no data. Despite awareness-raising efforts, “young people recognize regular use of these products, easy access to purchase them and little concern about the risk of dependence,” underlines the WHO.
She therefore urges collecting as much data as possible because she sees it as “the most powerful way to fight the tobacco industry and develop effective policies that prevent the initiation of tobacco consumption.” In February, the 10th session of the Conference of the Parties to the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control is to be held in Panama. “The tobacco industry will attempt to influence global health policies by offering financial and in-kind incentives, thereby interfering with the rights of countries to protect the health of their populations,” warns the WHO in its press release.
