A third of the world’s population is exposed each year to second-hand smoke — also known as passive smoking — which continues to be a major source of illness and mortality among non-smokers.
An estimated 2.71 billion people around the world were exposed to second-hand smoke— a combination of two types of smoke inhaled by non-smokers — in 2023, contributing to 1.66 million deaths. This includes 767 million children under 15, who are especially vulnerable, along with 1.49 billion women.
These new findings come from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2023 study, published in The Lancet Public Health, which estimated second-hand smoke exposure and health impacts across 204 countries and territories between 1990 and 2023.
Need for stronger regulation
Despite the scale of exposure, the study found that approximately 70% of the world’s population is not protected by comprehensive smoke-free laws.
