Smoking: A Global Overview
By 2022 the smoking prevalence rate for males was more than four times the rate for females
Smoking prevalence illustration for males and females
Humankind has been using tobacco for millennia, and today there are one billion adult smokers across the globe.[1] Global smoking rates are at their lowest in decades and the volume of cigarettes consumed globally on an annual basis has reduced by 18% over the last decade.
In 2020, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), 21.7% of the world’s population aged 15 years or older used tobacco: 35.5% of men and 7.9% of women. Projections to 2030 see further reductions in tobacco use rates. However, WHO predicts that around 18.1% of the world’s population will still use tobacco.[2]
Prevalence of tobacco use amongst men and women has changed over the past two decades. In 2000, the proportion of males using any form of tobacco was three times greater than the proportion of female consumers. The decline in prevalence among female adult smokers has been greater than males. By 2022 the rate for males was more than four times the rate for females (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Global tobacco smoking prevalence has declined continually since 2000 [2]
1 billion
adult smokers across the globe[1]
>70%
of global tobacco use is cigarette smoking
20%
of tobacco is consumed as Oral Tobacco Products
Change in prevalence by country, 1990-2019
Figure 2. Change in smoking prevalence by country, 1990-2019
While the proportion of the global smoking population is declining, the total number of adult smokers has remained at around one billion smokers since 1990[3],[1], due to an overall rise in the global population. China and countries in both Africa and the Western Pacific regions have seen the greatest increases in the number of adult smokers over the last three decades (Figure 2)[3].
Now over 80% of the 1 billion adult smokers live in low- and middle-income countries. Whilst the use of Smokeless Products is increasing globally, the most common form of tobacco use is still cigarette smoking at 71.5% of total tobacco use[2].
Sources
A full list of references for this page can be found in the section 11. References.
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