Women are dropping tobacco faster than men, WHO finds

The World Health Organization (WHO) has published the sixth edition of their tobacco report, titled “WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000–2024 and projections 2025–2030.” Key findings are summarized in a press release.

Overall, global tobacco use has declined over a quarter in the past 15 years, with 1.2 billion users reported in 2024. WHO found that women are quitting faster than men. While both groups have showed reduced tobacco use, women reached their 2025 reduction goal of 30% in 2020, while men are projected to reach theirs in 2031. 

Additional key findings:

• One in five adults are addicted to tobacco
• Over 100 million people use e-cigarettes, including 15 million adolescents (13-15 years of age)
• Children are significantly more likely to use e-cigarettes than adults
• The majority of global tobacco use decline comes from South-East Asia
• Europe has the most tobacco users