Global cigarette consumption has been rising steadily since James Bonsack invented the first cigarette-rolling machine in 1881. By the 1960s, the incontrovertible health consequences of smoking had become apparent. In some countries, consumption began leveling off and even decreasing. Worldwide, however, more people are smoking. Cigarettes account for the largest share of manufactured tobacco products (96 percent of total value sales), although in South Asia, bidi consumption exceeds cigarette consumption by an order of magnitude and use of oral tobacco remains a widespread problem.

The total number of smokers is increasing mainly due to expansion of the world’s population: by 2030, the planet will support 2 billion more people than in 2000. Unless smoking prevalence rates decline dramatically, the absolute number of smokers will continue to increase. A continuing decline in male smoking prevalence may be offset, in part, by perilous increases in female smoking rates, especially in developing countries.

Unless dramatic steps are taken to control tobacco, about 6.3 trillion cigarettes will be produced in 2010—more than 900 cigarettes for every man, woman, and child on the planet. Escalating global consumption of tobacco products has created an unprecedented global public health emergency, a pandemic of epic proportions.

In 2007, smokers in China consumed 37 percent of the world’s cigarettes.

During every day of the year 2010, 12 million cigarettes per minute will be smoked around the world.

Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies
Protect people from tobacco smoke
Offer help to quit tobacco use
Warn about the dangers of tobacco
Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
Raise taxes on tobacco

Building on the first-ever global public health treaty - the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008 issued a comprehensive country-level report on the global tobacco epidemic. This report provides data from 179 countries covering 99% of the world’s population and sets baselines for implementation and enforcement of the six evidence-based and cost-effective policies of the WHO MPOWER strategy. Currently only 5% of the world’s population is fully protected by any one of the MPOWER interventions and no country implements and enforces all of them. By taking action to implement MPOWER, the leaders of governments and civil society can create the necessary environment to protect children from tobacco, help people quit tobacco use and save millions of lives a year.

The final version of the online Tobacco Atlas will have information on MPOWER steps related to the issues portrayed on each map.