The number of smokers world-wide dropped from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2b four years later. File photo. Photo: 123rf.com
People are smoking less across the globe, but e-cigarettes are fuelling a new wave of nicotine addiction, according to a new report from the World Health Organisation (WHO).
The number of smokers worldwide dropped from 1.38 billion in 2000 to 1.2 billion in 2024. However, one in five adults were still addicted to tobacco the report found.
For the first time WHO estimated global e-cigarette use, finding more than 100 million people were now vaping, including 15 million children aged between 13 and 15.
In countries that had the data, children were on average nine times more likely than adults to vape, the report said.
University of Otago Public Health Professor Janet Hoek told Midday Report the statistics were concerning.
"We know that the World Health Organisation has been doing a lot of work to try and drive down smoking prevalence and it's good to see that's happening, but I think the lesson in the report is that although smoking prevalence is declining, it's not declining as rapidly as we might hope," she said.
"[The report] is a very high level perspective and it's comparing World Health Organisation regions. What we're not seeing are the differences that we know exist within countries, so here in Aotearoa for example the large inequities that we know exist in smoking prevalence between Māori and non Māori."
Hoek said New Zealand needed to intensify efforts to reduce smoking prevalence.
"There are some findings in the report that look encouraging but I think if we focus on those then we are just lulling ourselves into a false sense of security," she said.
The report found more women were quitting tobacco than men, with prevalence of tobacco use among women dropping from 11 percent in 2010 to 6.6 percent in 2024.
Among men, the decrease was from 41.4 percent in 2010 to 32.5 percent in 2024.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said millions of people were stopping, or not taking up, tobacco use thanks to tobacco control efforts by countries around the world.
"In response to this strong progress, the tobacco industry is fighting back with new nicotine products, aggressively targeting young people. Governments must act faster and stronger in implementing proven tobacco control policies," he said.
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