Remarkable progress has been made in global tobacco control since MPOWER was introduced a decade ago as a tool to help implement the World Health Organization’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC). Nearly two thirds of countries (121 of 194) – comprising 63% of the world’s population – have now introduced at least one MPOWER measure at the highest level of achievement (not including Monitoring or Mass media campaigns, which are assessed separately).

Overall progress has been steady, with roughly 15 new countries reaching best practice level on one or more measures every 2 years. As a result, about 4.7 billion people are now covered by at least one best-practice policy intervention at the national level. This is a substantial increase from the 42 countries protecting a total of 1 billion people (15% of the world’s population) at best-practice level in 2007, and shows what can be achieved when tobacco control is prioritized by governments and civil society.