More than 3.5 million adults in Morocco smoke, and almost all of them are men, according to a report by the World Health Organization (WHO) released on October 6, 2025.
The data shows that in 2024, 9.6% of Moroccan adults aged 15 and older were smokers, with the rate ranging between 6.2% and 13.1%.
But when broken down by gender, smoking prevalence among men reached 18.5%, while only 0.7% of women reported smoking.
WHO says this male-dominated pattern mirrors trends seen across the Eastern Mediterranean region, where social and cultural factors play a major role in keeping female smoking rates low.
These estimates come from national health surveys, including Morocco’s 2017 risk factor study on noncommunicable diseases and a 2018 tobacco survey carried out in partnership with WHO.
Regionally, Morocco belongs to one of the slowest-declining tobacco markets in the world.
The Eastern Mediterranean region continues to see stubbornly high smoking rates among men, with projections showing a 32% prevalence in 2025.
In contrast, other regions such as the Americas and Southeast Asia have made stronger progress in reducing tobacco use.
Globally, more than 1.2 billion people still use tobacco, and 83% of them are men.
While the total number of smokers worldwide has dropped from 1.379 billion in 2000 to an estimated 1.196 billion in 2025, the WHO warns that population growth in regions like Africa and the Eastern Mediterranean is offsetting these gains in absolute numbers.
Worldwide smoking rates have fallen from 33.1% in 2000 to 19.5% in 2024. However, the WHO’s goal of cutting tobacco use by 30% by 2025, compared to 2010 levels, is still out of reach.
The organization now expects the global rate to stand at 19.2% next year, slightly above the target of 18.3%.
Tobacco remains one of the biggest drivers of noncommunicable diseases such as heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory illness, all leading causes of premature death worldwide.
The WHO warns that the slow pace of decline in smoking rates, especially in regions like the Eastern Mediterranean where Morocco sits, poses a real challenge to achieving global health and sustainable development goals.
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