Latin America is the region that has had the most reduction in smoking in recent decades, with Brazil, Colombia and Costa Rica as the countries that have made the most progress. El Salvador, on the other hand, was the only country in the region where tobacco consumption increased.
“If nothing is done, the annual figure of 7.69 million deaths and 200 million years of life lost to diseases attributable to smoking will increase in the coming decades,” the study says.
While many countries have undertaken successful campaigns and strengthened their regulations to eliminate smoking, not all have fully implemented them.
That has partly explained why progress in the fight against smoking slowed as the world’s population grows.
The GBD study shows that, according to the latest data available in 204 countries, men (32.7%) five times the number of women (6.62%) who use tobacco or equivalent products.
Worldwide, 7.41 billion cigarettes were consumed in 2019. That is equivalent to an average daily consumption of 20,300 million.
China is the country with the biggest problem. It records one third of the world’s tobacco consumption (2,720 million cigarettes).
Daily consumption per person varies by country. But most men age 30 and older in 72 countries, and women in 121 countries, smoke less than 10 cigarettes a day on average.
Consumption is highest among men, with 32.3% worldwide smoking more than 20 cigarettes a day.
“With more than 1,000 million people smoking tobacco worldwide in 2019, the annual number of deaths, economic costs and burden to health systems caused by smoking will increase in the coming years,” warns the GBD study.
Why has it increased?
30 years ago, there were some 990,000 million active smokers in the world.
Countries were implementing various campaigns to discourage tobacco use. The World Health Organization (WHO) then created the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control to coordinate efforts and provide guidance to all countries starting in 2005.
The strategy, which was binding on the 182 countries that signed it, began to have an impact, as the following four years had seen the largest reduction in tobacco consumption seen in the world.
To discourage access to tobacco, the plan recommends raising taxes on tobacco purchases, creating smoke-free zone laws, displaying warnings on packets, and banning tobacco advertising and promotion, among other measures.
But as the GBD study determined, only Brazil and Turkey fully implemented all the measures.
“In many countries, prevalence reductions have not been at the same pace as population growth. As a result, the number of smokers globally has steadily increased every year since 1990,” the study explains.
In addition, countries with large populations and consumers, with China and Indonesia at the forefront, have had “little or no progress” in combating smoking in the last three decades.
Brazil has complied with all the recommendations against smoking, even campaigning against cigarette butts thrown in the street. GETTY IMAGES
And in many countries, including those that were very successful in their campaigns, “the rate of progress has slowed, particularly in the last 5 years.”
“The current level of implementation of tobacco control policies is insufficient in many countries around the world,” the study warns.
“Closing gaps in the adoption, implementation and implementation of evidence-based demand reduction policies is vital to ending the global tobacco epidemic.”
Latin America’s Good Progress
Although they also contribute to the global problem, almost all latin american countries have done well in getting their populations to reduce tobacco consumption over the past three decades.
The case of Brazil is remarkable, since smoking fell by 73.4% (number one in the world), but Costa Rica and Colombia are also among the 10 nations with the best progress since 1990.
Peru is the country with the lowest consumption among men (7.33%) from all over the world. Mexico and Costa Rica also stand out for achieving the reduction of smoking among women by almost 50%.
But there are also worrying numbers.
El Salvador was the only country in the region where consumption increased, with an average between men and women of 35.6%.
Guatemala and Bolivia had only a reduction of less than 10% since 1990.
The study highlights that the overall reduction of 19.8% in Latin America and Caribe is higher than that achieved by high-income countries (16.2%).
Considered an epidemic, tobacco use remains a major public health problem.
The GDB study stated that in 2019 smoking caused 7.6 million deaths and affected 200 million years of life of people who suffered problems linked to smoking.
Ischemic heart disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cancer of the trachea, bronchi and lung, as well as stroke are the main conditions that smokers develop.
Chemicals present in tobacco smoke can produce up to 10,000 genetic mutations in cells. GETTY IMAGES
Most smokers lose their lives between the ages of 60 and 64.
“In the last 30 years, more than 200 million deaths have been caused by tobacco use and the annual economic costs due to tobacco use exceed one trillion dollars,” the study notes.
“Even smokers who consume only a few cigarettes a day have a considerable excessive risk compared to nonsmokers.”
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