Global tobacco use has declined over the course of a generation with one in five people smoking compared to one in three in 2000, the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a report today.

The decrease is recorded despite the ongoing efforts, according to the Organization, by the so-called “Big Tobacco”as the five largest tobacco companies in the world are known, to influence global health policies in their favor.

“In recent years progress has been made in tobacco control, but there is no time for complacency,” says Dr. Rediger Krech, director of the WHO’s health promotion division, adding: “I am amazed at how far the tobacco industry can go in the pursuit of profits at the expense of countless lives.”

The WHO global report states that 1.25 billion people aged 15 and over used tobacco in 2022, up from 1.36 billion in 2000.

Tobacco use is expected to decline further by 2030 to about 1.2 billion people even as the world’s population grows, the report notes.

One example of the tobacco industry’s efforts to exert influence, cited by the WHO, is its initiatives to support countries technologically and financially ahead of a major WHO conference on tobacco control scheduled to be held in Panama in February.

The areas with the highest percentage of smokers it’s Southeast Asia and Europe, the WHO says, with almost a quarter of the population smoking.

There are few countries in which tobacco use continues to increase –Egypt, Jordan, Indonesia, Congo, Oman and the Republic of Moldova– according to the report.

The report, which is published every two years, provides some preliminary data on the prevalence of vaping that the WHO is calling on governments to to impose control measures similar to those for tobacco products.

According to the same source, there are at least 362 million adult users of smokeless tobacco products worldwide, but this number may be an underestimate due to insufficient data.

The report shows that 150 countries are successfully reducing tobacco use. Brazil and the Netherlands have seen success following the implementation of tobacco control measures such as the MPOWER regulatory framework, with Brazil recording a 35% reduction since 2010 and the Netherlands nearing its 30% target.

Research done at the national level shows repeatedly that adolescents aged 13-15 in most countries use tobacco products and nicotine.

To protect future generations and ensure that tobacco use continues to decline, WHO will dedicate this year’s World No Tobacco Day to protecting children from tobacco industry interference.