Safety First: Tobacco Use Is Decreasing Around the World

Over the last 15 years, measures have been successfully implemented to reduce tobacco use around the world, safeguarding the health of almost 6 billion people, with a growing number of countries improving their policy practices to curb this global tobacco epidemic.

“These data show that slowly but surely, more and more people are being protected from the harms of tobacco by the World Health Organization’s evidence-based best-practice policies,” explains Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General.

Effective tobacco control measures – or MPOWER – were first implemented in 2008; since then, smoking rates have fallen. Today, at least one best practice policy protects 71% of the world’s population – or 5.6 billion people. That’s five times more than in 2007. Helping people quit smoking obviously protects the public from second-hand smoke. The ninth WHO Report shows that Mauritius and the Netherlands have, just like Brazil and Türkiye, the best-practice level in all MPOWER measures. This highly exclusive club could soon expand since eight countries – Ethiopia, Iran, Ireland, Jordan, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand, and Spain – are one MPOWER policy away from becoming leaders in tobacco control. Smoke-free environments play a key role in breathing clean air, shielding the public from second-hand smoke, motivating people to quit, denormalizing smoking, and preventing young people from developing the deadly habit. So far, almost 40% of countries have smoke-free indoor public places.