Smoking, vaping, HTP, NRT and snus in Congo

Current smoking prevalence trends in the general population in Congo shows one of the steepest increases amongst the WHO smoking prevalence trend data. Overall the prevalence was around 6% in 2000; this has risen to 24% in 2015 and is projected to increase further to around 49% by 2025. This increase has been driven almost entirely by men's smoking prevalence, which shows a dramatic increase from 10% in 2000 to 47% in 2015, with a further increase to 97% by 2025 if trends continue unabated. The women's current smoking prevalence trend remains low and flat, between 1.6% and 1.8%, between 2000 and the projection to 2025. The WHO published prevalence trend estimates in tobacco smoking, as shown here, in their 2018 2nd edition report, which show slightly different smoking prevalence to the WHO country profiles. Data for the estimates are not age standardised, and were obtained from WHO databases. The trend lines are projections, not predictions, of future attainment. A projection indicates a likely endpoint if the country maintains its tobacco control efforts at the same level that it has implemented them to date. Therefore the impact of recent interventions could alter the expected endpoint shown in the projection. While the methods of estimation used in the first and second editions of the WHO report are the same, the volume of data available for the second edition is larger i.e. 200 more national surveys. The results presented are therefore more robust.