Hommam Al Nassim 
The number of people who consume tobacco worldwide has steadily declined in recent years, a World Health Organization report said, warning that Europe could become the most smoker by 2030.
The organization conducted an analysis of tobacco use since 2000, and the report finds that if one in three adults in the world smoked or used tobacco products in 2000, that figure fell in 2020 to one in five.
According to the World Health Organization, 150 countries are successful in reducing tobacco consumption. For example, since 2010, the number of smokers in Brazil has fallen by 35%, and the Netherlands is close to meeting the target of 30%.
More than 1.25 billion adults worldwide still use tobacco products. Although smoking rates have declined in most countries, the World Health Organization has warned that tobacco-related deaths will remain high in the coming years.
According to the World Health Organization, tobacco currently kills more than eight million people each year, including 1.3 million non-smokers who fall victim to secondhand smoke.
Rudiger Kreich, Director of the WHO’s Department of Health Promotion, said: “Significant progress has been made in the fight against smoking in recent years, but there is no time for complacency. “We see that when the government believes it has won the battle against smoking, the tobacco industry uses this opportunity to manipulate health politics to sell its killer products.”
The largest consumption of tobacco products currently occurs in Southeast Asia (26.5% of the population), with Europe in second place (25.3%), according to the World Health Organization.
By 2030, Europe could become the world’s leading tobacco consumer, FAO notes, explaining that tobacco consumption among women on the continent is more than twice the global average and falling much more slowly on the continent, compared to other regions of the world.
The report shows that the prevalence of tobacco use in some countries has changed only slightly since 2010, while 6 countries are witnessing an increase in tobacco use: Congo, Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Oman, and Moldova.