A recent analysis of tobacco use by the public health campaign and US academics shows the first drop in global smoking rates.

However, Reuters reports that the "imminent tipping point" described by the authors of the Tobacco Map report masks the fact that the number of smokers is increasing in several regions of the world, with tobacco use among youth in nearly half of the countries The amount is also increasing.

According to a report by the Critical Strategy and Tobacco Economics team at the University of Illinois at Chicago, there are 1.1 billion smokers worldwide and another 200 million who use other tobacco products.

Between 2007 and 2019, smoking rates fell from 22.6 percent to 19.6 percent, the researchers said, the first drop in smoking rates since the study began in 2002.

However, research shows that population growth in Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and the Western Pacific means that smokers are still increasing in many countries. In addition, smoking rates among adults and young people are rising in at least 10 African countries.

In addition, according to Jeffrey Drope, a professor of public health at the University of Illinois and author of the report, children in many countries are being targeted for the sale of tobacco products, with 13-13 out of 135 countries surveyed. Smoking rates among 15-year-olds are on the rise. About 50 million people in this age group, including boys and girls, use tobacco products, Delop said.