A new brief reveals that smoking remains one of the leading causes of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a common lung disease that causes breathing problem and claiming the lives of over 3 million people every year. There is an estimated 392 million people living with COPD and three quarters of them live in low- and middle-income countries. 

Tobacco smoking accounts for over 70% of COPD cases in high-income countries. In low-and-middle-income-countries tobacco smoking accounts for 30–40% of COPD cases with household air pollution being the other major risk factor.