WHO warns: Tobacco addiction still grips millions as vaping surges among youth

Global tobacco use has dropped from 1.38 billion users in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024. However, one in five adults worldwide is still addicted, resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year.

 

Bogor, W Java (Indonesia Window) – The world is smoking less than it used to, but the battle against tobacco addiction is far from over.

A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) reveals that global tobacco use has dropped from 1.38 billion users in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024. Since 2010 alone, 120 million people have stopped using tobacco, marking significant progress. However, one in five adults worldwide is still addicted, resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year.

According to WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, many people are quitting or avoiding tobacco because of strong control measures adopted by countries around the world. But the tobacco industry, he said, is fighting back by pushing new nicotine products and aggressively targeting young people. He urged governments to respond even faster and stronger to protect future generations.

For the first time, WHO has also measured global e-cigarette use, and the findings are raising alarms. More than 100 million people now vape worldwide, including at least 86 million adults, mostly in high-income nations.

Even more concerning, at least 15 million teenagers aged 13 to 15 are already using e-cigarettes. In countries where full data is available, children are nine times more likely to vape than adults.

WHO officials warn that although vaping is often marketed as a safer alternative, it is fueling a new wave of nicotine addiction among young people that risks reversing years of progress.

The report also highlights a gender divide in global tobacco trends. Women are quitting faster than men and reached WHO’s 2025 reduction goal five years early, with global female smoking rates dropping from 11 percent in 2010 to 6.6 percent in 2024. The number of female smokers also declined from 277 million to 206 million during the same period.

Men, however, remain far behind, with more than four out of five tobacco users worldwide being male. Despite smoking rates among men declining from 41.4 percent in 2010 to 32.5 percent in 2024, progress is too slow for the world to hit the 2025 target; that milestone is not expected to be reached until 2031.

Regional trends show mixed results. South-East Asia, once the world’s toughest tobacco hotspot, has almost halved male smoking rates since 2000, contributing more than half of the global decline.

Africa has the lowest prevalence at 9.5 percent, although the total number of smokers continues to rise due to population growth.

The Americas have achieved a 36 percent reduction in tobacco use, with prevalence dropping to 14 percent.

Europe now holds the highest overall smoking rate, with 24.1 percent of adults still using tobacco and European women recording the highest prevalence in the world at 17.4 percent.

In the Eastern Mediterranean, tobacco use continues to rise in several countries, while progress in the Western Pacific is the slowest globally, with men in the region still recording the world’s highest smoking rate at 43.3 percent.

WHO is calling on governments to strengthen tobacco control policies by enforcing global regulations, closing loopholes that allow companies to target children, regulating new nicotine products like e-cigarettes, increasing tobacco taxes, banning advertising, and providing more services to help people quit.

“Nearly one in five adults still use tobacco or nicotine products. We cannot slow down now,” said Jeremy Farrar, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Care. He emphasized that although progress has been made, the world will only defeat the tobacco epidemic with faster and stronger action from governments everywhere.

Reporting by Indonesia Window