WHO’s view on tobacco abuse worldwide:
- Global cigarette sales in 2017 stood at $700 billion. This amount was 250 times more than what the WHO needed to protect human health.
- Tobacco is the only legal drug that kills many of its users when used exactly as intended by manufacturers.
- Tobacco use (smoking and smokeless) is currently responsible for the death of about 6 million people across the world each year. Worldwide, a total 6,00,000 people are also estimated to die from the effects of second-hand smoke.
- Tobacco smoking is often associated with ill-health, disability, death from non-communicable chronic diseases and an increased risk of death from communicable diseases.
