Smoking rates in some countries such as the US have steadily declined over the past few decades, but tobacco use continues to climb in Asia, Latin America and Africa. In Vietnam, for example, smokers spend nearly four times as much on tobacco as they do on education and twice as much as on healthcare. Tobacco-related deaths will claim about 10% of the current population and the number of deaths each year is expected to double to 10 million by 2025, according to The Tobacco Atlas, published by the American Cancer Society in July.

Since the first tobacco atlas was released in 2002, 133 countries have ratified the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control, which calls for protection against secondhand smoke, restrictions on advertising and other measures. Despite that, an estimated 1 billion men and 250 million women worldwide regularly light up.

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