SEAR Tobacco Atlas

Overview

Executive summary

Tobacco use has been identified as a major threat to health and development of the nations. Tobacco use and second-hand smoke lead to nearly 9 million deaths globally (8 million attributed to tobacco use and 1 million because of exposure to second-hand smoke), and the majority of these deaths happen in low–and–middle–income countries. The WHO South-East Asia (SEA) Region with more than one-fourth of world’s population (26%) is among the top tobacco consuming and tobacco producing regions in the world. The region has nearly 20% of world’s smokers (237 million) and more than 80% of global smokeless tobacco users (301 million).