Extracts below and a comment from me.
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Monday, 6 October 2025
NEWS RELEASE
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240116276
WHO tobacco trends report: 1 in 5 adults still addicted to tobacco
Geneva/6 October 2025 -- The world is smoking less, but the tobacco epidemic is far from over. A new WHO global report shows the number of tobacco users has dropped from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024. Since 2010, the number of people using tobacco has dropped by 120 million – a 27% drop in relative terms. Yet, tobacco still hooks one in five adults worldwide, fuelling millions of preventable deaths every year.
“Millions of people are stopping, or not taking up, tobacco use thanks to tobacco control efforts by countries around the world,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “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, WHO has estimated global e-cigarette use – and the numbers are alarming: more than 100 million people worldwide are now vaping. This includes:
• Adults: at least 86 million users, mostly in high-income countries.
• Adolescents: at least 15 million children (13–15 years) already using e-cigarettes. In countries with data, children are on average nine times more likely than adults to vape.
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, 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.”...
Actions needed
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% of adults people 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.”
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COMMENT (NPW): I have not been able to read the report in full, but from what I can see it does not talk about public awareness/understanding of the health consequences of smoking. This is addressed in article 12 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Graphic clinical photos on cigarette packets have helped to build awareness, but there is still a long way to go. Many people, especially in LMICs, are unaware of the range of health risks of smoking.
In the UK, 'At least two thirds of the 4,099 people surveyed knew smoking caused cancers of the lung, mouth (oral) and throat (larynx and oesophagus). But less than 20 per cent knew tobacco was linked to leukaemia and cancers of the liver, pancreas, bowel (colorectum), kidney, bladder, cervix, and ovary.' Levels of awareness among disadvantaged populations in LMICs is much less. Meanwhile tobacco companies deny or downplay the health risks of smoking.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org