Since then, the practice of cigarette smoking has spread worldwide on a massive scale. Today, about one in three adults, or 1.1 billion people, smoke. Partly because of growth in the adult population, and partly because of increased consumption, the total number of smokers is expected to reach about 1.6 billion by 2025. In the past, tobacco was often chewed, or smoked in various kinds of pipes. While these practices persist, they are declining.
Cigarette smoking appears to pose much greater dangers to health than earlier forms of tobacco use.
This report therefore focuses on manufactured cigarettes and bidis. The per capita consumption in these countries climbed steadily between 1970 and 1990, although the upward trend may have slowed a little since the early 1990s. Per capita consumption for the populations of the high-income countries as a whole also has dropped. However, among certain groups in these countries, such as teenagers and young women, the proportion who smoke has grown in the 1990s. In recent years, international trade agreements have liberalized global trade in many goods and services.