Taking stock: Tobacco control in the WHO European Region in 2017(2017)

Tobacco use continues to kill millions of people globally, including in the WHO European Region. In addition to causing illness and death, it is also a driver of inequity. Current trends suggest that tobacco use is not reducing as quickly as it should to meet globally agreed targets, especially in some of the poorest and most vulnerable populations. A tobacco-free society is considered one in which less than 5% of the adult population uses tobacco. This brief report looks at the latest tobacco-use prevalence data for the WHO European Region, taken from the 2017 report on the global tobacco epidemic, considers reports on the global tobacco epidemic since 2008 and the progress made against the implementation of MPOWER in the European Region, draws on the evidence compiled in the Tobacco Control Playbook, and considers how far the WHO European Region has travelled along the Roadmap of actions to strengthen implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in the European Region 2015 – 2025 (the Roadmap) and how far there is to go.