Global tobacco use tumbles despite lobbyingːWHO

GENEVA—Global tobacco use has tumbled in a generation with one in five people smoking versus one in three in 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday. The drop comes despite what the UN global health agency said were efforts by Big Tobacco to influence global health policies to its advantage. “Good progress has been made in tobacco control in recent years, but there is no time for complacency,” said Dr. Ruediger Krech, director of WHO Department of Health Promotion. The global report said 1.25 billion people aged 15 or over used tobacco in 2022 versus 1.36 billion in 2000. Tobacco use is set to fall further by 2030 to around 1.2 billion people even as the world’s population grows, the study said. The regions with the biggest portion of smokers are Southeast Asia and Europe, the WHO said. In a handful of countries, tobacco use is still rising, including in Egypt, Jordan and Indonesia, according to the study. —REUTERS