New WHO report details progress and problems in global tobacco control

In June 2025 the WHO released its new comprehensive WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2025: Warning about the dangers of tobacco. The report contains detailed country-specific analysis and statistics about progress in reducing tobacco use, policies, and industry opposition. It is a valuable reference document.

It recognizes that

Overall, while progress since 2007 is undeniable, the pace of reaching best practice levels has slowed in recent years. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic likely contributed to some delays or suspension of policy adoption; however, countries have also had their attention diverted towards swiftly regulating the multitude of new products that are appearing in their markets and threaten to undo earlier progress made in tobacco control.

With respect to e-cigarettes and heated tobacco products (electronic nicotine delivery systems) it says

The number of countries applying regulatory restrictions on electronic nicotine delivery systems has been increasing rapidly

As of 2024, 133 countries regulate electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) in some way. Forty-two of these countries (covering 2.7 billion people) ban the sale of ENDS, and the other 91 countries have adopted (partially or completely) one or more legislative measures to regulate ENDS, covering 3.7 billion people. However, the regulations adopted by these countries include a wide range of measures, including those that are part of the MPOWER package, with no global common approach to address these products. At the same time, 62 countries still have no ENDS ban or regulations in place, leaving 1.7 billion people particularly vulnerable to the activities of the tobacco and related industries.

Health warnings are required on both devices and e-liquids in 56 countries, on devices only in three countries and on e-liquids only in nine countries. ENDS are covered by the same advertising and promotion bans as tobacco products in 63 countries, while 47 countries have specific regulations governing ENDS advertising and promotion.

Use of ENDS is banned or restricted in public places in 99 countries.

ENDS marketing targets children and young people through several tactics, including making ENDS available with many enticing flavours. Astonishingly, very few countries have measures in place to protect children from ENDS. Only seven countries now ban all flavours while 15 others restrict or allow specific flavours, and 74 countries, covering a population of 1.9 billion people, have no minimum age at which ENDS may be purchased.

Because the report focuses on national policies rather than local and state policies, it understates the progress that has been made in places like the US where most effective action has been at the local and state level, particularly on flavor bans.

The citation for the full report is: WHO report on the global tobacco epidemic, 2025: warning about the dangers of tobacco. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. It is available for free here.