Global Tobacco Use Drops by 120 Million Since 2010, WHO Reports

The world is steadily kicking the smoking habit. A World Health Organization trends report found that the number of tobacco users worldwide has fallen from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024. Since 2010 alone, the count has dropped by 120 million people — a 27 percent relative reduction in prevalence — even as the global population grew.

The decline reflects years of tobacco-control policy: higher taxes, advertising bans, plain packaging, smoke-free public spaces and graphic health warnings. "Millions of people are stopping, or not taking up, tobacco use thanks to tobacco control efforts by countries around the world," said WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. Women have led the way, hitting a 30 percent reduction target five years early; female tobacco-use prevalence fell from 11 percent in 2010 to 6.6 percent in 2024, with the number of women using tobacco dropping from 277 million to 206 million.

Regional success stories stand out. In South-East Asia, once the biggest hotspot, tobacco use among men nearly halved over two decades. Because tobacco kills more than eight million people a year, these reductions translate into very large numbers of lives extended and illnesses avoided over time.

The report is candid about what is left undone. Roughly one in five adults still uses tobacco, men quit far more slowly than women, and Europe now has the highest regional prevalence. WHO also flagged a worrying new front: more than 100 million people are now vaping, including at least 15 million adolescents aged 13 to 15, raising concerns that e-cigarettes could pull a new generation toward nicotine. Progress, in other words, is real but fragile — and the agency urged governments not to let up. The headline remains encouraging: the long global decline in smoking is continuing, and tens of millions of people are healthier for it.