Data from a new report on tobacco use shows that the global smoking rate has fallen for the first time on record however, numbers are growing in some parts of the world, reports Reuters.

The report from public health campaign group Vital Strategies and the Tobacconomics team at the University of Illinois at Chicago found that there are 1.1 billion smokers worldwide and 200 million people who use other tobacco products. While the smoking rate declined from 22.6 per cent of the population in 2007 to 19.6 per cent in 2019, these figures mask growing numbers of smokers in parts of the world.
Smoking prevalence is rising among adults in at least 10 countries in Africa and among young people, reports Reuters.
"The industry is still preying on emerging economies in ways that will lock in harms for a generation or more," said Jeffrey Drope, public health professor at the University of Illinois and a report author. He went on to say that in certain countries children are being specifically targeted which has led to a rise in smoking among teenagers aged 13-15 in 63 of 135 countries surveyed. Drope went on to say that falling prevalence globally was a sign of the effectiveness of strong tobacco control measures, such as increased taxes but that many lower-income countries did not have tough enough restrictions in place, reports Reuters.
The report says that, in 2019, tobacco use led to almost 8.7 million deaths globally and USD 2 trillion in economic damage. The authors of the report also backed the US Food and Drug Administration's plan to ban menthol cigarettes saying the tobacco industry is using them to target black people in the US.