VIENNA (Reuters) -&nbsp;Cocaine&nbsp;demand and supply are&nbsp;booming&nbsp;worldwide and&nbsp;methamphetamine&nbsp;trafficking&nbsp;is expanding beyond established&nbsp;markets, including in Afghanistan where the drug is now being produced, a United Nations&nbsp;report&nbsp;said on Sunday.
Coca bush cultivation and total&nbsp;cocaine&nbsp;production were at record highs in 2021, the most recent year for which data is available, and the global number of&nbsp;cocaine&nbsp;users, estimated at 22 million that same year, is growing steadily, the&nbsp;U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime said in its annual World Drug&nbsp;Report.
Cocaine&nbsp;seizures have, however, grown faster than production, containing the total supply to some extent, the&nbsp;report&nbsp;said. The upper band of the estimated total supply was higher in the mid-2000s than now.
"The world is currently experiencing a prolonged surge in both supply and demand of&nbsp;cocaine, which is now being felt across the globe and is likely to spur the development of new&nbsp;markets beyond the traditional confines," the UNODC&nbsp;report&nbsp;said.
"Although the global&nbsp;cocaine&nbsp;market&nbsp;continues to be concentrated in the Americas and in Western and Central Europe (with very high prevalence also in Australia), in relative terms it appears that the fastest growth, albeit building on very low initial levels, is occurring in developing&nbsp;markets found in Africa, Asia and South-Eastern Europe," it said.
While almost 90% of&nbsp;methamphetamine seized worldwide was in two regions - East and Southeast Asia and North America - seizure data suggests those&nbsp;markets have stabilised at a high level yet&nbsp;trafficking&nbsp;has increased elsewhere, such as the Middle East and West Africa, the&nbsp;report&nbsp;said.
It added that&nbsp;reports and seizures involving&nbsp;methamphetamine produced in Afghanistan suggested the drug economy was changing in that country, where 80% of the world's illicit opium poppy, which is used to make heroin, is produced.
"Questions remain regarding the linkages between illegal manufacture of heroin and of&nbsp;methamphetamine (in Afghanistan) and whether the two&nbsp;markets will develop in parallel or whether one will substitute the other," it added.
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(Reporting by Francois Murphy; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Cocaine market is booming as meth trafficking spreads, U.N. report says