France's Health Ministry has announced that the country had 1 million fewer smokers in 2017 compared to the year before.

Daily smoking in France dropped from 29.4 percent of the population in 2016 to 26.9 percent in 2017, marking a difference of 2.5 percentage points, according to a ministry report published Monday.

The ministry-run public health agency credited its National Tobacco Reduction Plan (PNRT), a strategy drawn up in 2016 to combat tobacco use in France, with the successful reduction in tobacco use. Ile-de-France, where Paris is located, was the region with one of the lowest numbers of daily smokers.

The drop was also significant for disadvantaged smokers, including low-income and unemployed French. The decline was most notable in men between the ages of 18 and 24, and women aged 55 to 64. The groups witnessed a decline of 9 percent and 3 percent, respectively.

Read more: Percentage of smokers drops, but tobacco deaths rise: study

Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly 20 minutes without cigarettes 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your blood pressure and pulse rate return to normal. They’re raised during smoking because nicotine activates the sympathetic nervous system, putting your body in fight-or-flight mode.

Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly 12 hours without cigarettes 12 hours after quitting, carbon monoxide levels in your blood drop and blood oxygen levels increase to normal. Carbon monoxide, a component of cigarette smoke, impedes the transport of oxygen in the blood.

Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly 2 days without cigarettes 2 days after your last cigarette, your senses of smell and taste, which are impaired by smoking, begin to return.

Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly 3 days without cigarettes After 3 days, your bronchial tubes relax and breathing becomes easier. At this point, your body will be completely free of nicotine, so nicotine withdrawal symptoms are especially severe. They can include headaches, nausea and cramps, cravings, frustration and anxiety.

Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly A few months without cigarettes A few months after the last cigarette, the body's blood supply has improved. The lungs' oxygen uptake has risen by 30 percent. Coughing fits are rarer because the cilia, the tiny hairs in the lungs that sweep up foreign matter, have regrown.

Quit smoking - your body recovers quickly One year, ten years, 15 years without cigarettes After a year without smoking, your risk of heart disease is lowered by 50 percent compared to that of a smoker. The heart attack rate for smokers is 70 percent higher than for non-smokers. After ten years, the risk of dying of lung cancer is about half that of a person who is still smoking. After 15 years, the risk of coronary heart disease is the same as that of someone who has never smoked.



'Possible to fight against smoking'

As part of the PNRT, French authorities have developed apps, hotlines and an information service aimed at helping the country's smokers ditch the habit.

"This historic decline proves to everyone that it is possible to fight against smoking through coherent and integrated actions," said Francois Bourdillon, who serves as director general of the public health agency.

Read more: Smoking leaves genetic 'signatures' far from lungs

According to the World Health Organization, tobacco use kills more than 6 million people annually, with roughly 80 percent of the world's 1.1 billion smokers living in low- or middle-income countries.

"The tobacco epidemic is one of the biggest public health threats the world has ever faced," according to the WHO.

Since 2016, France has implemented an ambitious strategy aimed at stopping the use of tobacco

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.