Are fewer adults using tobacco worldwide?
As of 2022, tobacco use among adults is 20.9%: −11.8 pts since 2000.
Why it changed
Both are true at once here: higher tobacco taxes, advertising bans, and pack warning labels under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control cut the share of adults who use tobacco from 32.7% in 2000 to 20.9% in 2022. And also, roughly one in five adults, about 1.2 billion people (WHO, 2024), still use tobacco, and it kills more than 7 million of them every year.
Source · Our World in Data (WHO/UN SDG Indicators Database) CC-BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); underlying data: WHO/UN SDG Indicators Database Last reviewed 2026-07-07
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What is the source for this number?
Our World in Data (WHO/UN SDG Indicators Database). Last reviewed 2026-07-07 — CC-BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); underlying data: WHO/UN SDG Indicators Database.
How has this changed since 2000?
−11.8 pts since 2000. As of 2022, tobacco use among adults stands at 20.9%.
What still isn't solved?
Roughly one in five adults, about 1.2 billion people (WHO, 2024), still use tobacco, and it kills more than 7 million of them every year.