The number of tobacco users continues to decrease globally, going from 1.32 billion in 2015 to 1.30 billion last year, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), reports UN News.

According to the fourth WHO global tobacco trends report, that number is expected to continue to drop to 1.27 billion by 2025.  
Last year, 22.3 per cent of the global population used tobacco, 36.7 per cent of all men and 7.8 per cent of the world’s women.
Of all WHO regions, the steepest decline is in the Americas, where the average user rate dropped from 21 per cent in 2010 to 16 per cent last year. In Africa, the rate fell from 15 per cent to 10 per cent and the continent continues to have the lowest numbers. In Europe, 18 per cent of women still use tobacco, substantially more than in any other WHO region, while all others are on track to reduce women’s usage rates by at least 30 per cent by 2025. Although South-East Asia has the highest rates, with around 432 million users or 29 per cent of its population, it is also the region in which the numbers are declining fastest. Finally, the Western Pacific is projected to become the region with the highest use among men, with indications showing that more than 45 per cent will still be using tobacco in 2025, the report said.