Number of smokers has risen to 1.1 billion worldwide

Nearly 8 million people died from smoking-related causes in 2019, Rory Sulivan reports

The number of smokers in the world rose to 1.1 billion in 2019. (PA)

The number of smokers around the world increased to 1.1 billion in 2019, with China accounting for a third of this total, a new analysis of global data has suggested.

In the same year, 7.7 million people died from smoking-related causes, according to the Global Burdens of Disease collaboration which carried out the research.

After crunching the findings of 3,625 surveys from 204 countries, its team discovered that 89 per cent of new smokers become addicted to tobacco before the age of 25.