Worldwide, at least 40 million young people aged 13–15 years (10%) use some form of tobacco – 26 million boys and 14 million girls. The number in the WHO European Region is 4 million (11.6%) (1). Girls from the European Region had the highest prevalence globally among girls at 11.4% (Fig.1). The average rate of tobacco use among girls in four other WHO regions1 is 1.5–3.5 times lower than that among boys. Only about half the countries in the WHO European Region survey young people about their use of smokeless tobacco products. WHO has estimated that, in 2024, 0.5 million (2.9%) of the Region’s population aged 13–15 years used smokeless tobacco products.

What should be done?

• More countries should monitor all forms of tobacco use among youth, including new and emerging nicotine, tobacco and related products such as electronic nicotine delivery systems, electronic non-nicotine delivery systems, nicotine pouches and heated tobacco products.
• Countries are encouraged to use standardized protocols and questions in youth tobacco surveys to monitor key tobacco control indicators. Standardization ensures comparable data over time and across countries.
• Country capacity for preparing and implementing surveys and disseminating and using the data for monitoring and evaluation of policy should be strengthened.