About 1.2 billion people still use tobacco, which kills more than 7 million people a year; adult use has fallen steadily since 2000, but too slowly to meet the 2025 reduction target, and e-cigarettes are drawing in millions of children.
Updated October 14, 2026. Written from the sources listed below, not independently peer-reviewed.
There are about 1.2 billion tobacco users in the world. Out of every 100, how many live in low- and middle-income countries?
1.2 billion
People who use tobacco
WHO estimate for people aged 15 and older, equal to 19.5% of that age group. The number has fallen from 1.38 billion in 2000.
Data year 2024. Source: World Health Organization, 2025
More than 7 million
Deaths caused by tobacco each year
Including more than 1.6 million people who do not smoke but are exposed to second-hand smoke. WHO's fact sheet bases the total on the Global Burden of Disease 2023 study.
Data year 2023. Source: World Health Organization, 2026
12%
World population living with best-practice tobacco taxes
Only 41 countries tax tobacco at the level WHO recommends, with taxes making up at least 75% of the retail price.
Data year 2024. Source: World Health Organization, 2026
* Projection, not a measurement. Modelled, age-standardised WHO estimates of current use of any tobacco product (e-cigarettes not included). The 2030 value is a WHO projection, not an observed figure.
SDG target 3.a calls for stronger implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, and countries agreed to cut tobacco use by 30% in relative terms between 2010 and 2025. WHO estimates the reduction at 27%, about 50 million users short of the goal. Women reached the 30% reduction in 2020, but men are not expected to reach it until 2031. Of 194 countries assessed, 61 are likely to reach the target, while 12 show rising use and 28 lack enough data to judge.
More than four out of five tobacco users are men, just under 1 billion in total. In 2024, 32.5% of men used tobacco, compared with 6.6% of women.
Source: World Health Organization, 2025Europe now has the highest adult prevalence of any WHO region, at 24.1% in 2024, and women in Europe have the highest rate of any group of women, at 17.4%. In the Western Pacific, 43.3% of men use tobacco, the highest rate for men in any region.
Source: World Health Organization, 2025On average, 10% of children aged 13 to 15 use at least one tobacco product, about 40 million adolescents; boys (12.4%) are more likely to use tobacco than girls (7.5%).
Source: World Health Organization, 2025At least 15 million children aged 13 to 15 use e-cigarettes. In countries with data, children are on average nine times more likely than adults to use them.
Source: World Health Organization, 2025Each country is shaded by its latest available value, so you can see where the gap is widest. Hover or tap a country, search for one, or open the full table.
Loading country values…
Modelled, age-standardised WHO estimates of the share of people aged 15 and older who currently use any tobacco product, smoked or smokeless, showing the latest year available per country (2024 for all 166 countries in this release). E-cigarettes are not included, and countries without enough survey data are left blank.
Source: WHO Global Health Observatory, via World Bank Open Data. Latest year available per country; years differ.
Values load from World Bank Open Data. Simplified Natural Earth borders; they imply no position on disputed territories.
Instead of one “percent solved” score, DO GOOD rates three separate dimensions. A problem can have mature solutions that still reach too few people. These ratings are an editorial reading of the sources on this page, not a measured index.
Has the situation improved in the real world?
ModerateAdult tobacco use fell from 33.1% in 2000 to 19.5% in 2024 and is declining in every income group, but 1.2 billion people still use tobacco and it kills more than 7 million people a year.
How mature and validated are the available solutions?
HighThe MPOWER measures, such as high taxes, smoke-free laws, advertising bans and graphic warnings, are well established, and WHO's 2024 guideline recommends proven quit medicines and counselling.
How widely are effective solutions actually used?
Moderate6.1 billion people are covered by at least one MPOWER measure at best-practice level, up from 1 billion in 2007, but only four countries have the full package and only 12% of the world's population lives with best-practice taxes.
Adult estimates draw on more than 2,000 national surveys covering countries with 97% of the world's population, but they are modelled, 28 countries lack enough data for trends, and e-cigarette figures are minimum estimates.
The number of users has fallen by 120 million since 2010 and WHO projects further declines to 2030, but progress among men is slow, use is still rising in some countries, and e-cigarettes are widespread among children.
Tobacco harms almost every organ of the body. It causes cancer, heart disease, stroke and lung disease, reduces fertility and weakens the immune system, and WHO states that there is no safe level of exposure to tobacco. According to WHO, tobacco kills more than 7 million people a year, including more than 1.6 million people who do not smoke themselves but are exposed to second-hand smoke. Nicotine is highly addictive, and WHO warns that it is particularly harmful for children, adolescents and young adults. Tobacco also deepens poverty, because money spent on it is taken from household budgets for food and housing.
An estimated 1.2 billion people aged 15 and older used tobacco in 2024, down from 1.38 billion in 2000, and around 80% of them live in low- and middle-income countries. More than four in five users are men. Adult use has fallen in every World Bank income group, from 33.1% of people aged 15 and older in 2000 to 19.5% in 2024, but the world will miss the goal of a 30% relative reduction between 2010 and 2025. At the same time, WHO's first global estimate counts more than 100 million people using e-cigarettes, including at least 15 million children aged 13 to 15.
WHO estimates tobacco use for each country from national household and school surveys; its database held 2,034 national surveys in early 2025. These estimates are the official data for SDG indicator 3.a.1. The main measures are:
Current tobacco use among adults
The share of people aged 15 and older who currently use any smoked or smokeless tobacco product. Rates are age-standardised so countries with younger or older populations can be compared. E-cigarettes are counted separately, not in this figure.
Modelled trends and projections
WHO combines survey results with statistical modelling to produce comparable estimates for each year from 2000 and projections to 2030. In the 2025 edition, 166 countries covering 97% of the world's population had enough data for trend estimates.
Use among adolescents
Tobacco and e-cigarette use among children aged 13 to 15 comes from national school-based surveys, which are done in different years in different countries. WHO's e-cigarette counts are given only as minimums, as "at least" figures.
Policies measured against best practice
WHO tracks six MPOWER measures: monitoring tobacco use, smoke-free laws, help to quit, health warnings and mass media campaigns, bans on advertising, promotion and sponsorship, and tobacco taxes. Each is rated against a best-practice level, for example taxes making up at least 75% of the retail price.
What works
Taxes that raise the price of tobacco faster than incomes make it less affordable, which reduces use, and they also bring in public revenue. WHO's best-practice level is a tax share of at least 75% of the retail price.
Limits
According to WHO's 2025 report, 134 countries have not made cigarettes less affordable, and since 2022 only three countries have raised taxes to the best-practice level.
What works
Comprehensive bans on smoking in indoor public places and workplaces protect people who do not smoke from second-hand smoke, which kills more than 1.6 million people a year.
Limits
Just over a third of the world's population, in 79 countries, is protected by best-practice smoke-free laws, so most people still live without full protection.
What works
Picture warnings on packs and strong media campaigns inform people about harms and encourage quitting. 110 countries now require graphic warnings, covering 62% of the world's population, up from 9 countries in 2007.
Limits
Despite their effectiveness, 110 countries have not run an anti-tobacco campaign since 2022, and more than 30 countries still allow cigarettes to be sold without mandatory health warnings.
What works
Complete bans on tobacco marketing limit how the industry recruits new users, especially young people.
Limits
Only 68 countries, home to just over a quarter of the world's population, have complete bans, so most people live where some forms of tobacco marketing are still allowed.
What works
WHO's first guideline on tobacco cessation in adults recommends varenicline, nicotine replacement therapy, bupropion and cytisine, together with counselling, including brief advice of 30 seconds to 3 minutes from health workers during routine care. Over 60% of tobacco users want to quit.
Limits
In 2024, WHO estimated that 70% of tobacco users lacked access to effective cessation services, including counselling and medicines.
Promising, but not proven at scale. The stage shows how far each approach has come; it is not a recommendation.
Between 2012 and 2022, nearly 140 countries raised tobacco taxes, increasing real prices by more than 50% on average. Building on this, WHO's "3 by 35" initiative, launched in 2025, asks countries to raise the real prices of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks by at least 50% by 2035 through taxes. WHO estimates that such a price rise could prevent 50 million premature deaths, but results depend on national governments passing and enforcing the taxes.
In 2023 WHO began prequalifying medicines for tobacco cessation, which helps countries and agencies buy products of assured quality, and in April 2024 a nicotine gum and patch became the first prequalified products. Whether this will make quit medicines widely affordable in low-income countries is not yet known.
WHO now recommends text messaging, smartphone apps and internet programmes as add-ons to other support or for self-management. How well they work in practice depends on their design and on people's access to phones and the internet.
The number of countries that regulate or ban e-cigarettes grew from 122 in 2022 to 133 in 2024. Approaches differ widely, and evidence on which rules best prevent use by children is still building.
Implementation gap
In 134 countries cigarettes have not become less affordable, and since 2022 only three countries have raised taxes to the level WHO recommends.
Implementation gap
More than 750 million tobacco users want to quit, yet 70% lack access to effective cessation services, including counselling and medicines.
Technology gap
WHO only began prequalifying medicines for tobacco cessation in 2023, and the first products, a nicotine gum and patch, were prequalified in April 2024, so the range of quality-assured products that countries can buy is still small.
Coordination gap
WHO describes a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between the tobacco industry's interests and public health. Keeping tax, marketing and product rules free from industry influence is a lasting challenge for governments.
Coordination gap
More than 60 countries have no rules at all for e-cigarettes, and WHO's 2025 report notes that the packaging of smokeless tobacco also remains poorly regulated.
Knowledge gap
In 2025, 28 countries did not have enough survey data for WHO to judge their progress, and WHO's first global e-cigarette figures are given only as minimum estimates.
Unresolved questions, not vetted breakthroughs. Answering any of them would change what is possible.
For adults who smoke, can e-cigarettes help them stop using tobacco altogether, and how can any such benefit be weighed against the uptake of nicotine among children who would never have smoked?
Prevalence among women reached the 2025 target five years early, but men are not expected to reach it until 2031. Which mix of policies speeds up quitting among men, especially in regions where most men still use tobacco?
How can surveys track the use of e-cigarettes, heated tobacco and nicotine pouches in a comparable way across countries and years, so that the growth of new products is not missed?
Which low-cost combinations of brief advice, digital tools and medicines such as cytisine help the most people quit where health workers are scarce?
Ask a health worker, pharmacist or quitline about counselling and the quit medicines WHO recommends, or try a quit programme by text message or app.
Not allowing smoking indoors or in vehicles protects children and other people from second-hand smoke.
Share accurate information about the addictiveness of nicotine and the marketing of e-cigarettes and pouches to young people, without shaming those who already use them.
Back tobacco tax increases, smoke-free laws and limits on marketing to children when your community or government debates them.
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World Health Organization (6 October 2025), published 2025
The sixth and latest edition of WHO's official estimates for SDG indicator 3.a.1, updated every two years. Source of the global prevalence trend and 2030 projection, user numbers, progress of countries toward the 30% target, adolescent tobacco use, survey coverage and data gaps.
World Health Organization (news release, 6 October 2025), published 2025
Summary of the 2025 trends report. Source of the figures by sex and WHO region, the 27% reduction against the 30% target, the 120 million fall in users since 2010, and WHO's first global estimate of e-cigarette use by adults and children.
World Health Organization (26 June 2026), published 2026
WHO's current summary. Source of the more than 7 million deaths (based on the Global Burden of Disease 2023 study) and 1.6 million deaths from second-hand smoke, the 80% share of users in low- and middle-income countries, the health and poverty effects, and policy coverage figures taken from WHO's 2025 report on the global tobacco epidemic.
World Health Organization (news release, 23 June 2025; republished by PAHO), published 2025
Release of the WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2025 (https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240112063), the tenth edition tracking MPOWER policies. Source of the 6.1 billion people covered, countries with the full package or none, warnings, campaigns, affordability and e-cigarette regulation.
World Health Organization (news release, 2 July 2024), published 2024
Summary of WHO's cessation guideline. Source of the recommended medicines, counselling and digital interventions, the more than 750 million users who want to quit, the 70% without access to cessation services, and WHO's prequalification of cessation medicines.
World Health Organization (news release, 2 July 2025), published 2025
Launch of the "3 by 35" initiative. Source of the goal of raising real prices of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks by at least 50% by 2035, the estimate of 50 million premature deaths prevented, and the tax increases in nearly 140 countries between 2012 and 2022.