Tobacco use still claims over seven million lives a year, the World Health Organization warned on Monday, calling for greater efforts to limit its use amid rising interference from the global tobacco industry.
The World Health Organization (WHO) published its 2025 report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic on Monday, focusing on the six policies outlined in the WHO MPOWER tobacco control measures.
Since 2007, 155 countries have implemented at least one of those policy prescriptions which has resulted in over 6.1 billion people – that’s three-quarters of the world’s population – now benefitting: however, major gaps still remain.
Here are the six policy recommendations:
Monitoring tobacco use and prevention policies;
Protecting people from tobacco smoke with smoke-free air legislation;
Offering help to quit tobacco use;
Warning about the dangers of tobacco with pack labels and mass media;
Enforcing bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship; and
Raising taxes on tobacco.
Striking Gains
Some 110 countries now require graphic health warnings on tobacco packaging and WHO’s new report reveals the strategy has delivered striking gains in the fight against consumption.
As one of the key measures under the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), graphic health warnings make the harms of tobacco visibly clear and difficult to ignore.
There has also been a growing trend to regulate the use of e-cigarettes or ENDS – Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems – with the number of countries regulating or banning ENDS increasing from 122 in 2022, to 133 in 2024.
Major Gaps
Although very effective, 110 countries have failed to launch any anti-tobacco campaigns since 2022, despite the grim statistic that around 1.3 million people continue to die from second-hand smoke every year.
Forty countries still have not adopted a single MPOWER measure and over 30 countries are still allowing cigarette sales without mandatory health warnings. The UN health agency is calling for urgent action in areas where momentum is lagging.
“Government must act boldly to close remaining gaps, strengthen enforcement, and invest in the proven tools that save lives,” said Ruediger Krech, WHO’s Director of Health Promotion.
