June 1, 2026
By Pavel Ursu
Each year on 31 May, World No Tobacco Day highlights the health, social, economic, and environmental consequences of tobacco use. This year’s theme, “Unmasking the appeal: Countering nicotine and tobacco addiction,” emphasizes the growing and troubling trend of the tobacco and nicotine industry targeting children and adolescents.
Tobacco use remains a leading risk factor for Non communicable Diseases (NCDs) such as cancer, cardiovascular diseases, chronic respiratory illnesses, and diabetes. These conditions continue to place enormous strain on families, communities, and already burdened health systems.
Globally, tobacco use has declined significantly, from 1.38 billion users in 2000 to around 1.2 billion in 2024-reflecting the impact of stronger policies, higher taxation, and comprehensive implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control; however, progress remains uneven and insufficient to meet global reduction targets, with one in five adults still using tobacco. As public health measures advance, the industry continues to reinvent and repackage its products, including new and emerging nicotine and tobacco products to sustain addiction and recruit new users, including millions of adolescents, thereby sustaining addiction, recruiting new users, and risking a new wave of nicotine dependence that could undermine hard-won gains in tobacco control.
