WHO: The number of smokers continues to decline

The World Health Organization warned on Tuesday that the number of smokers has fallen steadily in recent years, but efforts to curb smoking must continue in the face of strong activity from the tobacco sector.

In 2020, 1.3 billion people smoked tobacco worldwide, 20 million less than the number recorded two years ago, according to a new report issued by the World Health Organization.

The organization expects a further decline until 2025, with estimates that the number of smokers at that time will reach 1.27 billion people.

Despite expressing his delight at the decline, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that "there is still a long way to go, and the tobacco industry will do everything in its power to defend the enormous profits it reaps from the sale of its deadly products."

Tobacco kills more than eight million smokers every year, and another 1.2 million people die from secondhand smoke, according to World Health Organization statistics.

The number of deaths will also continue to increase despite the decrease in consumption "because tobacco kills slowly".

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