The number of people using tobacco globally decreased to 1.30 billion in 2020, from 1.32 billion in 2015, the World Health Organization WHO has reported.
Findings
About 70 per cent of the world’s 1.3 billion tobacco users did not have access to tools to help them to quit successfully.
Taxation was the single most effective tool for reducing tobacco use.
But the illicit trade in tobacco products undermined the effectiveness of tax policies.
Illegal tobacco trade is a threat to public health as it increases access to often cheaper tobacco products.
The access to such products fuels the tobacco epidemic and undermines tobacco control policies.
It also causes substantial losses in government revenues.
Eliminating the illicit trade in tobacco products is an important goal for public health.