A recent global study shows that reducing smoking rates by just 5% by 2050 could increase life expectancy by one year for men and 0.2 years for women.

By that time, smoking rates are expected to fall to 21% among men and 4% among women. Researchers also estimate that 876 million years of lost lives could be avoided by accelerating efforts to end smoking.

The study, published in The Lancet Public Health, suggests that if smoking was eliminated among people born between 2006 and 2010, more than 1.2 million lung cancer deaths could be prevented in 185 countries by 2095. Is.

“We must not lose momentum in efforts to reduce and ultimately eliminate smoking around the world,” said senior author Stein Emil Volset of the Institute for Climate Change. “Our findings highlight that ending smoking could save millions of lives.” “Deaths occurring before 1950 can be avoided.” Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington, US, which coordinates the GBD study.

Although no country has adopted a completely tobacco-free production policy that would ban the sale of tobacco to anyone born after a certain year, the idea could have a significant impact.

New Zealand had passed a law in 2022 to ban tobacco sales to people born after 2009, but it was repealed earlier this year.

Lead author Stein Emil Volset of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) stressed that continued global efforts to reduce smoking are vital to prevent millions of premature deaths.

According to the study, smoking has caused more than 175 million deaths globally in the last three decades.

Despite progress in reducing smoking rates in many countries, smoking remains a major contributor to preventable disease and death.

“Although global smoking prevalence will continue to decline in the reference scenario, there will still be a substantial future burden due to smoking. Smoking elimination, even by 2050, would increase life expectancy at birth at a rate that Not possible by many other interventions,” the authors wrote.