Globally, the number of men using tobacco has finally started to decline, "indicating a powerful shift" towards preventing various forms of cancer and related diseases, said the World Health Organization (WHO) on Thursday.

There would be one million fewer males using tobacco products by 2020 and nearly five million less by 2025. "Declines in tobacco use amongst males mark a turning point in the fight against tobacco," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the WHO.

"We had witnessed a steady rise in the number of males using deadly tobacco products. But now, for the first time, we are seeing a decline in male use," he added.

In the last two decades, overall tobacco use has declined by nearly 60 million. The number of tobacco users dropped from 1.397 billion to 1.337 people in 2018, calculated the report on global tobacco use trends.

But the reduction in the number of tobacco users is primarily driven by women who are giving up tobacco addiction habits at a much faster rate. In 2000, there were 346 million women using tobacco products, the number is down to 244 million in 2018, a fall of over around 100 million.

"Reductions in global tobacco use demonstrate that when governments introduce and strengthen their comprehensive evidence-based actions, they can protect the well-being of their citizens and communities," said Dr. Ruediger Krech, Director of Health Promotion at WHO.

However, the current rate of declines is not enough to meet the global target of reducing the total number of tobacco users by 30 percent by 2025. At the present rate, the world would be able to see a 23 percent reduction by 2025.

With only 32 countries on track to reach the 30 percent reduction target, the WHO is urging is the governments to take strong actions. The Western Pacific Region, including China, is projected to overtake Southeast Asia as the region with the highest average rate among men.

Tobacco consumption stopped growing around the year 2005, following a downward trajectory. Still, the reduction is too small to see when the numbers are rounded off to billions. The number of tobacco smokers in the world in 2000 was 1.1 billion and is projected to remain at around 1.1 billion until at least 2025.

"Without stepped-up national action, the projected fall in tobacco use still won't meet global reduction targets. We must never let up in the fight against Big Tobacco," said Dr. Vinayak Prasad, head of the WHO's tobacco control unit.

More than eight million people die from tobacco use. While seven million of these deaths are from direct tobacco, 1.2 million are due to non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke.

A majority of tobacco-related deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries, areas that are targets of intensive tobacco industry interference and marketing.

Tobacco taxes not only help reduce tobacco consumption and health-care costs but also represent a revenue stream for financing for development in many countries, the WHO suggested.