The truth is that four million people die yearly from tobacco-related diseases, one death every eight seconds. If current trends continue, WHO estimates that the toll will rise to ten million by 2030, one death every three seconds. Tobacco is fast becoming a greater cause of death and disability than any single disease. It doesn't have to be that way. WHO has decided to focus attention and resources on tobacco use, to try to prevent at least some of these predicted deaths, and to prevent hundreds of millions to more in the decades to come after 2030.
Tobacco is a silent killer.
Peaks in tobacco mortality reflect peaks in tobacco consumption three to four decades earlier. Current smoking mortality is the result of past lifetimes of tobacco consumption. If current trends continue, tobacco will kill more than 100 million people in the first two decades of the 21 st century. Of the 300 million Chinese men now aged 0-29, at least 100 million will eventually be killed by tobacco. Half the deaths will be among those aged 35-69.