For the first time in history, global smoking rates have dropped.
This was revealed in a report released by a medical campaign group and American researchers.
But the Tobacco Atlas report also acknowledged that smoking was on the rise among young people in about 50 percent of the countries surveyed.
Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Vital Strategies survey found that 1.1 billion people worldwide smoke, while 200 million use other tobacco products.
That number is 22.6 percent lower than in 2007 and 19.6 percent lower than in 2019, and the decline in smoking rates has been recorded for the first time.
According to the report, the number of smokers is still increasing in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and the western ocean regions.
But there has also been an increase in smoking cessation among adults and young people in at least 10 African countries.
The University of Illinois professor Jeffrey Drop, who took part in the survey, said the smoking industry is still expanding in developing countries in various ways that could harm one or more generations.
Of the 135 countries surveyed, 63 reported that children between the ages of 13 and 15 also saw an increase in smoking rates, with more than 50 million smokers in this age group. Is close to
The report says that the effects of new products such as e-cigarettes and flavor products have not been fully worked out.
According to researchers, the reduction in global smoking rates indicates the effectiveness of anti-smoking measures, such as raising taxes, but many low-income countries have yet to implement more restrictions.
The report also found that tobacco use caused nearly 8.7 million deaths worldwide in 2019 and caused نقصان 2,000 billion in economic losses.
More than 50 percent of deaths occur in developed countries, but the report says that is likely to change, as smoking will continue to rise in low-income areas if smoking continues to rise.
