Worldwide number of smokers expected to drop to 1.27 billion by 2025: World Health Organization

The World Health Organization says the number of smokers worldwide has been steadily decreasing. (File)

Geneva, Switzerland:

The number of smokers worldwide has steadily declined in recent years, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, calling on countries to step up control measures further to reverse addiction. deadly tobacco.

In 2020, about 1.30 billion people are using tobacco globally, down from 1.32 billion two years earlier, the WHO said in a new report.

And that number, it said, is expected to drop to 1.27 billion by 2025, representing a decline of around 50 million tobacco users over a seven-year period, even if the population global increase.

The report found that while nearly a third of the global population over the age of 15 used tobacco products in 2000, only about one in five are expected to do so by 2025.

WHO Director, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said: “It is encouraging to see fewer people using tobacco each year.

But “we still have a long way to go and tobacco companies will continue to use every trick in the books to protect the huge profits they make from peddling deadly products.” mine.”

More than 8 million people died

According to WHO figures, tobacco use is estimated to kill more than eight million people each year, most of them directly due to their own tobacco use, while 1.2 million of them are Non-smokers are exposed to secondhand smoke.

Tuesday’s report warned that the annual death toll will continue to rise for some time even as tobacco use declines “because tobacco kills users and those exposed to its emissions from are from.”

The report praises that 60 countries are now on track to reduce tobacco use by 30% between 2010 and 2025.

When WHO released its final report on global tobacco trends two years ago, only 32 countries were tracking performance.

“We are seeing tremendous progress in many countries” but “this success is fragile,” said Ruediger Krech, head of health promotion at WHO.

The report urges countries to scale up the use of recognized measures to reduce tobacco use, including enforcing advertising bans, affixing health warnings on cigarette packages, and increasing taxes on tobacco products. leaves and supports people who want to quit smoking.

WHO has calculated that investing just $1.68 per capita per year in cessation interventions such as providing advice via text message could help 152 million tobacco users successfully quit. in 2030.

While the numbers are dropping, the report, which does not include e-cigarette use, highlights that 36.7% of men and 7.8% of women worldwide are still using medicinal products. leaves last year.

Even more concerning, it found that 38 million teenagers between the ages of 13 and 15 are doing the same.

That number represents 10% of all teenagers in that age group, with boys being much more likely to smoke than girls.

Europe is the region of the world where most women use tobacco products – 18%, the report found.

The Western Pacific region is where most men smoke, with more than 45% of men expected to still use tobacco there by 2025.

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from the syndication feed.)