Geneva, October 6, 2025 (PAHO) — The world smokes less, but the tobacco epidemic is far from over. a new WHO world report shows that the number of tobacco users has decreased from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024. Since 2010, the number of people who use tobacco has fallen by 120 million, a drop of 27% in relative terms. However, tobacco still hooks one in five adults worldwide, causing millions of preventable deaths each year.
«Millions of people are quitting or have not started using tobacco 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 youth. Governments must act faster and stronger in implementing proven tobacco control policies.»
For the first time, the WHO has estimated global e-cigarette use, and the numbers are alarming: more than 100 million people around the world are vaping. This includes:
- Adults: at least 86 million users, most in high-income countries.
- Teenagers: At least 15 million children (between 13 and 15 years old) already use electronic 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 with the aim of commercializing tobacco addiction not only with cigarettes but also with electronic cigarettes, nicotine pouches, heated tobacco products, among others, which harm people’s health and, what is more worrying, the health of new generations, young people and adolescents.
«E-cigarettes are fueling a new wave of nicotine addiction,» said Etienne Krug, Director of the Department of Health Determinants, Promotion and Prevention at WHO. «They are marketed as harm reduction but in reality they are hooking kids on nicotine earlier and risk undermining decades of progress.»
More women than men quit tobacco
While there has been a steady decline in tobacco use for both men and women across all age groups over the period 2000-2024, women have led the charge to quit tobacco. They met the 2025 global reduction target five years early, reaching the 30% milestone in 2020. The prevalence of tobacco use among women fell from 11% in 2010 to just 6.6% in 2024, and the number of female tobacco users fell 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 in five tobacco users worldwide are men, and just under one billion men continue to use tobacco. While prevalence among men has fallen from 41.4% in 2010 to 32.5% in 2024, the pace of change is too slow.
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- Southeast Asia: Prevalence among men, once the world’s hotspot, has fallen almost by half: from 70% in 2000 to 37% in 2024. The Region alone accounts for more than half of the global decline.
- Africa: Prevalence is the lowest of all regions, at 9.5% in 2024, and the region is on track to reach the 30% target. However, due to population growth, the absolute number of tobacco users continues to increase.
- Americas: The Region has achieved a relative reduction of 36%, with prevalence set to fall to 14% in 2024, although some countries still lack sufficient data.
- Europe: This is now the region with the highest prevalence globally, with 24.1% of adults using tobacco in 2024, and women in Europe will have the highest global prevalence at 17.4%.
- Eastern Mediterranean: The prevalence is 18% and tobacco consumption continues to increase in some countries.
- Western Pacific: With 22.9% of adults using tobacco in 2024, up from 25.8% in 2010, progress in this Region is the slowest. While women have a low prevalence (2.5%), men have the highest prevalence of all regions (43.3%).
Necessary actions
WHO urges governments around the world 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 such as e-cigarettes. It also means raising tobacco taxes, banning advertising, and expanding smoking cessation services so millions more people can quit.
«Almost 20% of adults still use tobacco and nicotine products. We cannot give up now,» said Jeremy Farrar, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention and Care. «The world has made progress, but the only way to defeat the tobacco epidemic is to take stronger and faster action.»
Note to editors
Findings from the new report titled “WHO global report on trends in the prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2024 and projections 2025-2030» are based on national surveys from 2034, covering 97% of the world’s population. The data underpins global reports on SDG Target 3.a and the WHO Global Action Plan for NCDs, which targeted a 30% relative reduction in tobacco consumption by 2025. Current progress: 27% reduction, missing 50 million users.
