Tobacco is a major killer worldwide and is one of the main causes of premature death. Each year, three million of the 30 million adult deaths in the world are attributable to tobacco. With current smoking patterns, by about 2025 this annual number will rise to 10 million deaths, of which seven million will then be in developing countries. Addiction to smoking usually begins before adult life, furthermore, children and teenagers who begin smoking are likely to remain addicted to nicotine throughout their lives.
Smoking also produces negative effects for people other than the smoker.
Smoking during pregnancy substantially reduces birth weight, and low birth weight is strongly associated with infant mortality and illness. Parental smoking increases the incidence of acute respiratory infections and asthma in children. Tobacco exacts huge economic and social costs that arise from treatment costs of tobacco-related diseases, the productivity losses of those who die prematurely, and the impact on their families. It is estimated that already one third of this loss is incurred by developing countries, and present trends of reduced tobacco use in high income countries but rapidly rising use in developing countries will greatly exacerbate this burden for the developing world. Many governments have been cautious to intervene to reduce tobacco use because of fears of job and tax revenue losses, but recent analysis shows that these fears are largely unfounded.