While the number of smokers worldwide has been falling, only four countries are taking adequate prevention measures, in the eyes of the World Health Organization (WHO). Switzerland remains a laggard, at least according to the most recently available statistics.
A report by Geneva-based WHO said on Monday that Brazil, Mauritius, Turkey and the Netherlands were the only countries to have implemented all recommended anti-tobacco measures.
Eight countries are meanwhile just one policy step away from joining this select group: Ireland, Spain, Ethiopia, Iran, Jordan, Madagascar, Mexico and New Zealand.
That said, the proportion of smokers worldwide has been falling: from 22.8% in 2007 to 17% in 2021. “Slowly but surely, more and more people are being protected from the harms of tobacco,” said WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.