--- title: WHO Global Tobacco-Use Reduction Target Likely Up in Smoke, Says Study description: Increasing numbers in Africa and the Mediterranean are smoking, meaning global tobacco-use figures will increase over the next decade canonical: https://time.com/3743721/smoking-tobacco-who/ author: TIME Staff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-13T06:25:37.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-22T05:08:19.875Z article:section: Health og:title: WHO Global Tobacco-Use Reduction Target Up in Smoke og:description: Numbers of smokers projected to increase slightly to 1.1 billion by 2025. og:url: https://time.com/3743721/smoking-tobacco-who/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc30a0e5995b079e2/6987837a5f570fd927b15ba9/rtr4fg5u.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3500 og:image:height: 1969 og:image:alt: Man lights up a cigarette with another cigarette outside an office building in Beijing og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: WHO Global Tobacco-Use Reduction Target Up in Smoke twitter:description: Numbers of smokers projected to increase slightly to 1.1 billion by 2025. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc30a0e5995b079e2/6987837a5f570fd927b15ba9/rtr4fg5u.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # WHO Global Tobacco-Use Reduction Target Likely Up in Smoke, Says Study > Sponsored content. 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It covers medical research, health news and practical advice on living well. #### Where can I get reliable health news by email? Health Matters is TIME's weekday health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free weekday newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-health-2026q3/newsletters?i=11dc61a8-1085-438a-b93b-fcd2a5990886&cr=time-nl-health-2026q3-v1) by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Mar 13, 2015 6:25 AM UTC  A man lights up a cigarette with another cigarette outside an office building in Beijing, Nov. 25, 2014 A man lights up a cigarette with another cigarette outside an office building in Beijing, Nov. 25, 2014 Jason Lee—Reuters by [TIME Staff](https://time.com/author/time-staff/) ## TIME Staff Mar 13, 2015 6:25 AM UTC Even as the number of smokers in many countries [declines](https://uk.news.yahoo.com/study-paints-mixed-picture-global-smoking-trends-003049777.html#Nuq0MKF), increasing numbers in Africa and the Mediterranean are taking up the habit, meaning global tobacco-use figures will likely increase slightly over the next decade, according to a new study. Member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) are aiming to cut worldwide tobacco consumption by 30% from 2010 levels by 2025, but the target may be missed because of smoking’s enduring popularity in low and middle-income nations, reports Agence France-Presse. The study, published in _The Lancet_ medical journal, projected “an estimated 1.1 billion current tobacco smokers” by 2025, higher than the current number of one billion smokers worldwide. In time, as many as half of today’s smokers will die as a result of their tobacco use. 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