NEW DELHI, Oct 8: Bangladesh, India and Nepal are on track to achieve at least a 30 per cent relative reduction in tobacco use by the end of this year, WHO said on Wednesday.

Six other countries — Bhutan, DPR Korea, Maldives, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand — are projected to see smaller declines, it said in a statement.

The WHO South-East Asia Region has made the fastest progress globally in reducing tobacco use, according to the latest ‘WHO global report on trends in prevalence of tobacco use 2000-2024 and projections 2025-2030’.

Yet, with more than 322 million adults and 8.6 million adolescents in the region still using tobacco, stronger policies, higher taxes, expanded cessation services and regulation of new nicotine products are urgently needed to protect people’s health, the WHO

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