The World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that smoking could claim a billion lives worldwide by the end of the century, compared to 100 million deaths during the 20th century, the Associated Press reported Feb. 7.

The WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic, 2008 was critical of the lack of action by many countries in confronting smoking, noting that nations worldwide collect more than $200 billion in tobacco taxes annually but spend less than one-fifth of one percent of that amount on prevention. "The tobacco epidemic already kills 5.4 million people a year from lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses," said WHO Director-General Margaret Chan. "Unchecked, that number will increase to more than 8 million a year by 2030."

The report urged nations to adopt six key strategies to prevent smoking-related disease and death, including raises tobacco taxes and prices, banning advertising, protecting people from secondhand smoke, warning about tobacco's dangers, helping those trying to quit, and monitoring use trends.

The WHO said that two-thirds of the world's smokers live in 10 countries -- China, Indonesia, Russia, the United States, Japan, Brazil, Bangladesh, Germany and Turkey -- and projects that 80 percent of future tobacco-related deaths will occur in low- and middle-income nations over the new few decades.

"The shift of the tobacco epidemic to the developing world will lead to unprecedented levels of disease and early death in countries where population growth and the potential for increased tobacco use are highest and where healthcare services are least available," the report noted.