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WHO blames 4 major industries for 2.7 million deaths per year in Europe
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
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The WHO blamed four major industries - tobacco, ultra-processed foods (UPF), fossil fuels and alcohol - for 2.7 million deaths a year in Europe, accusing them of obstructing public policies that could hurt their profits.
"These four industries kill at least 7,000 people in our region every day," Hans Kluge, director of the World Health Organization's European region, which includes 53 countries including Central Asia, said in a statement.
The consolidation of these industry sectors into a small number of multinational companies "has enabled them to exert significant influence over the political and legal contexts in which they operate and to resist public interest regulation that could impact their profit margins," the WHO report said.
The industry's tactics included exploiting vulnerable people through targeted marketing strategies, misleading consumers and making false claims about the benefits of their products or their environmental credentials, the organisation says.
"These tactics threaten the public health gains of the past century and prevent countries from achieving their health goals," WHO added.
Industry lobbying has hampered efforts to tackle noncommunicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes, the WHO said.
According to WHO, almost 60 percent of adults and a third of children in Europe are overweight or obese.
According to the latest data for 2017, one in five deaths attributed to cardiovascular disease and cancer in Europe were the result of unhealthy eating habits.
WHO has called on countries to combat this by strengthening regulations on the marketing of unhealthy products, monopolistic practices and lobbying.
"People must always come first before profit," Kluge said.
The report "Commercial determinants of noncommunicable diseases in the WHO European Region" is available on the WHO website.