Despite a 25% drop, 1 in 5 adults is addicted to tobacco globally—WHO laments

From Idu Jude, Abuja

The World Health Organisation (WHO), in its new global health report, says that despite a 25 per cent reduction in tobacco users, the number has dropped from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024.

The new report indicated that since 2010, the number of people using tobacco has dropped by 120 million—a 27% drop in relative terms.

Yet, it said tobacco still hooks one in five adults worldwide, fuelling millions of preventable deaths every year.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General, said in the report, “Millions of people are stopping, or not taking up, tobacco use thanks to tobacco control efforts by countries around the world.

“In response to this strong progress, the tobacco industry is fighting back with new nicotine products, aggressively targeting young people.

Governments must act faster and stronger in implementing proven tobacco control policies.”

For the first time, the report noted, WHO has estimated global e-cigarette use, and the numbers are alarming, with more than 100 million people worldwide now vaping. This includes:

Adults, with at least 86 million users, mostly in high-income countries.

Adolescents, at least 15 million children (13–15 years old) are already using e-cigarettes.

In countries with data, children are on average nine times more likely than adults to vape.

Meanwhile, the report stated that the tobacco industry is introducing an incessant chain of new products and technologies for its aim to market tobacco addiction with not just cigarettes but also e-cigarettes, nicotine pouches, and heated tobacco products, among others, which all harm people’s health, and more worryingly, the health of new generations, youth, and adolescents.

“E-cigarettes are fuelling a new wave of nicotine addiction,” said Etienne Krug, WHO Director of Health Determinants, Promotion and Prevention Department. “They are marketed as harm reduction but, in reality, are hooking kids on nicotine earlier and risk undermining decades of progress.”

Further indication highlighted that more women are quitting tobacco than men.

While there has been a steady decline in tobacco use for both men and women across all age groups during 2000–2024, women have been leading the charge to quit tobacco.

They hit the global reduction target for 2025 five years early, reaching the 30% milestone back in 2020. Prevalence of tobacco use among women dropped from 11% in 2010 to just 6.6% in 2024, with the number of female tobacco users falling from 277 million in 2010 to 206 million in 2024.

“By contrast, men are not expected to reach the goal until 2031. Today, more than four out of five tobacco users worldwide are men, with just under 1 billion men still using tobacco. While prevalence among men has fallen from 41.4% in 2010 to 32.5% in 2024, the pace of change is too slow.

“In South-East Asia, once the world’s hotspot, prevalence among men nearly halved from 70% in 2000 to 37% in 2024. The Region alone accounts for over half of the global decline.

“In Africa, prevalence is the lowest of all regions at 9.5% in 2024, and the Region is on track to meet the 30% target. However, because of population growth, the absolute number of tobacco users continues to rise.

In America, the region has achieved a 36% relative reduction, with prevalence dropping to 14% in 2024, though some countries still lack sufficient data”.

The report says Europe is now the highest-prevalence region globally, with 24.1% of adults using tobacco in 2024, with women in Europe having the highest global prevalence at 17.4%.

Eastern Mediterranean prevalence stands at 18%, with tobacco use continuing to rise in some countries.

Western Pacific, with 22.9% of adults using tobacco in 2024, down from 25.8% in 2010, the progress in this region is the slowest. While women have a low prevalence of 2.5%, men have the highest prevalence of all regions at 43.3%.

However, the WHO is urging governments everywhere to step up tobacco control. This means fully implementing and enforcing the Mpower package and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, closing loopholes that allow the tobacco and nicotine industries to target children, and regulating new nicotine products like e-cigarettes. It also means raising tobacco taxes, banning advertising, and expanding cessation services so that millions more people can quit.

“Nearly 20% adults still use tobacco and nicotine products. We cannot let up now,” said Jeremy Farrar, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Care. “The world has made gains, but stronger, faster action is the only way to beat the tobacco epidemic.”