There is a growing concern that an increasing number of teenagers worldwide, mainly from the developing world, are getting addicted to smoking. A Global Youth Tobacco Survey by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, the World Health Organisation and the Canadian Public Health Association confirm that 14 % of world youth smoke, many even starting at the age of 10. There are 1.2 billion smokers worldwide of which half are expected to die prematurely from smoking related diseases.

In many developed countries smoking has become unpopular with the upper middle class that it has nearly ceased among the wealthy. However in the developing countries the number of smokers is increasing at a rapid rate.