🚭 Tobacco use in India has halved in twenty years

🚭 Tobacco use in India has halved in twenty years

At the turn of the millennium, about one in five adult Indians smoked. That share has roughly halved since then. Almost half of all adults used some form of tobacco at the time. That figure has also roughly halved. The decline applies to both men and women, unlike the trend in some other countries.

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  • At the turn of the millennium, about one in five adult Indians smoked. That share has roughly halved since then.
  • Almost half of all adults used some form of tobacco at the time. That figure has also roughly halved.
  • The decline applies to both men and women, unlike the trend in some other countries.

Two measures, both down

At the turn of the millennium, one in five adults in India smoked tobacco. Counting all forms of tobacco, including products that are chewed or sniffed, almost half of all adults used tobacco.

Over the past two decades, both of these shares have roughly halved. The development is clearly visible in the data over time.

The decline applies to both men and women

In several countries, smoking has fallen among men while rising among women. That is not the case in India. Tobacco use there has fallen substantially for both sexes.

This means the decline is not limited to one part of the population, but covers the entire adult population.

Almost one million deaths every year

Smoking today causes almost one million Indians each year to die earlier than they otherwise would. That makes tobacco one of the largest single health issues in the country.

Diseases caused by smoking often take decades to develop. The effect of fewer people smoking today will therefore only become visible later, in the form of fewer deaths.

Smokeless tobacco has lower risks but is not risk-free

Tobacco that is not smoked generally carries lower health risks, because the user is not inhaling smoke. It still increases the risk of cancer of the mouth, throat, and esophagus, of gum disease, and of other conditions.

Since the use of both smoked and smokeless tobacco has fallen at roughly the same rate, the decline in India covers both of these product groups.

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