MedPage Today reports that about a billion people worldwide are smokers. 

One in four men and one in 20 women smoke daily, even though overall smoking rates declined by 28% among men and 34% among women from 1990 to 2015, researchers reported April 5 in The Lancet.

Moreover, deaths attributable to tobacco use increased by 4.7% globally despite the declining smoking rates, such that more than 10% of all deaths worldwide were associated with smoking, the report found.

Senior author Emmanuela Gakidou, PhD, of the University of Washington Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation in Seattle told MedPage Today that while tobacco control programs have greatly contributed to global smoking declines, population growth has led to an increase in the number of smokers worldwide.

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