The world smokes slightly less, but tobacco is still widely present in our lives. WHO’s new global report shows that the number of tobacco consumers dropped from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024.
Since 2010, the number of people who use tobacco has decreased by 120 million, with a 27% drop in relative terms. Still, tobacco still affects one in five adults all over the world, feeding millions of preventable deaths every year.
In response to these strong progress, the tobacco industry is fighting with new products based on nicotine, turning aggressively to young people – said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, general manager of WHO.
And from here an alarming figure: for the first time, the WHO has estimated the global use of electronic cigarettes and the numbers are increasing also and above all for minors. Among the more than 100 million people around the world they are vaping, there are:
Electronic cigarettes are fueling a new wave of nicotine dependence – says Etienne Krug, director of the Department for the determinants of health, promotion and prevention of WHO. They are marketed as a reduction in damage but, in reality, they are hooking children to nicotine before and risk undermining decades of progress.
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Teenagers and smoking
The WHO report provides global estimates on the prevalence and number of teenagers (aged 13 and 15 years) which use tobacco products and electronic cigarettes, based on the most recent school investigations conducted between 2014 and 2024.
Use of any tobacco product
Estimates on the use of any tobacco product (smoke and/or smoke-free tobacco, excluding products without tobacco such as electronic cigarettes) among 13-15 years adolescents are based on investigations in 161 countries (which represent 85% of teenagers drained globally).
Cigarette smoke
The estimates on cigarette smoking among 13-15-year-old teenagers are based on investigations in 163 countries (which cover 86% of schoolchildren teenagers).
Use of smoke -free tobacco
The estimates on the use of smoke -free tobacco (current prevalence) are based on investigations in 129 countries (which cover 73% of the teenage population) and are probably considered a underestimation, since the countries without investigations have been assumed to have zero prevalence.
Use of electronic cigarettes
Estimates on the current use of electronic cigarettes among 13-15 years adolescents are based on 123 investigations completed from 2014 to 2024 (covering 51% of the global teenage population).
