--- 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # WHO Global Tobacco-Use Reduction Target Likely Up in Smoke, Says Study 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, 2014Jason 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. Currently, there is a tobacco-related death every six seconds, according to the WHO. 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