The Global Case for Investment in Tobacco Control

Even though the prevalence and absolute number of current tobacco users aged 15 years old or older has declined steadily in the 20 years since the adoption of the WHO FCTC, the journey is far from over. Over 8.7 million lives continue to be lost each year due to tobacco use, with 1.3 million of those deaths due to environmental tobacco smoke, leading to enormous economic losses. This investment case estimates that tobacco use resulted in US$ 1.7 trillion in social and economic losses in 2022, the equivalent of 1.7% of the annual global gross domestic product (GDP).