Tobacco kills and has an impact on the economy, according to conclusions of a survey published in the journal Tobacco Control. The global economic cost of tobacco was nearly 2% of global gross domestic product in 2012, or $1.436 billion. And about 40% of that cost was borne by developing countries, where the burden of tobacco use on health and disease continues to grow.
The analysis assessed both the direct cost of smoking, including hospitalizations and treatment, and the indirect costs associated with lost productivity for the year 2012, based on results from studies covering 44 countries and additional data from the World Health Organization and the World Bank.
“We have developed a consistent method using secondary data sources to measure the economic cost of smoking in a total of 152 countries representing 97% of smokers worldwide,” said Mark Goodchild of the World Health Organization ( WHO).
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Indirect costs were measured using the human capital method (HCM), which calculates the present value of human capital lost due to death and illness.
The analysis suggests that in 2012, diseases caused by smoking accounted for 12% of all deaths among adults aged 30-69, with the highest proportion of deaths recorded in Europe and North and South America. South. Global work years lost due to smoking-related illnesses and deaths totaled $26.8 million.
The indirect costs of smoking-related disease have been estimated at $1.014 billion (US), with disability accounting for $357 billion and death accounting for $939 billion, respectively.
In Canada and the United States, tobacco-related costs accounted for about 3% of gross domestic product, compared to 1% in the rest of the Americas, 3.5% in Eastern Europe and 2.5% in the rest from Europe.
“Tobacco use currently kills around 6 million people a year, and the WHO has projected that this will increase to 8 million deaths annually by 2030,” said Mark Goodchild, adding that more than 80% of these deaths will be in developing countries.
“Unless these countries adopt stricter policies on tobacco controlthe economic burden of tobacco use will rise sharply in low- and middle-income countries.”
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