Tobacco use imposes a large health and economic burden worldwide. Research estimates that, in 2019, about 8 million deaths were attributable to tobacco smoking. Tobacco also reduces years of healthy living: about 200 million disability-adjusted life years in 2019.
This health burden comes with high economic costs, directly through medical treatment for tobacco-related diseases, and indirectly through productivity losses. Globally, the total economic cost of smoking amounted to around 1.8% of the world’s annual GDP in 2012. Global studies are rare because they are so data intensive.
