Adolescent tobacco use worldwide

A report from the World Health Organization (2024) looks at tobacco consumption among adolescents aged 13 to 15 worldwide, regardless of the tobacco product.

The report is based on a study conducted between 2012 and 2022 among young people aged 13 to 15 in 148 countries, covering 80% of the world's population. The survey looks at consumption levels by this age group of all types of tobacco products, whether manufactured cigarettes, rolling tobacco, heated tobacco, or smokeless tobacco (snus, chewing tobacco, etc.). As a result, consumption figures exclude non-tobacco products, such as e-cigarettes or nicotine pouches.[1].

Overall consumption

Available data estimate that 37 million adolescents aged 13 to 15 years are users of at least one form of tobacco. Thus, the average smoking prevalence in this age group is around 10% worldwide.

Regional consumption

The report notes a small variation in prevalence levels between the different WHO regions. For example, the Eastern Mediterranean region has the highest rate of users, with 11.41% of smokers among 13-15 year olds. The lowest smoking prevalence is held by the Western Pacific region (7.81% of smokers), followed by the Africa region (9.21% of smokers). Overall, the South-East Asia region has the highest number of young users, with 11 million adolescents aged 13-15 affected.

Consumption by gender

The results, however, show significant gender disparities. For example, internationally, the smoking prevalence among girls is 7%, compared to 13% for boys. The Eastern Mediterranean region is characterised by the worst health situation, with a smoking prevalence of 15% for boys aged 13 to 15. Furthermore, no WHO region records a smoking prevalence below 10% for this population category. For girls, the highest smoking prevalence is observed in the European Region, which has 10.1% of young tobacco users. Here again, the Western Pacific region records the lowest prevalence for girls (3.1%), at least two times lower than all those in the other regions. However, this low figure is largely determined by China's demographic weight, which has an extremely low smoking prevalence among young adolescent girls (2%).

Consumption by income level

Overall, more than 19 million adolescent tobacco users live in middle- and low-income countries, accounting for 51.1% of the total worldwide. Prevalence differences by income level are relatively small, ranging from 91.1% (high income) to 9.9% (middle income). Among young adolescent girls, the highest smoking prevalence is observed among populations with the highest income levels (8.7%; among young adolescent boys, the lowest smoking prevalence is observed among the high-income group (9.4%; middle income group) and the highest prevalence is observed among the middle-income group (13.1%; middle income group).

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