Smokers spend great sums of money on a product that damages their health and financial security. These resources could be used to cover basic human needs, such as food, shelter, clothing, health care, and education. In povertystricken communities where food costs represent a significant portion of household budgets, expenditures on tobacco may make the difference between an adequate diet and malnutrition for the smoker’s family.

Smokers and their families are exposed to severe economic losses when they become disabled or die from tobacco-related diseases. Because one-quarter of smokers die and many more become ill during their most productive years, the loss of income is substantial. In addition, family members often invest time and scarce resources to care for sick and dying smoking relatives. In many low-resource countries, hospital treatment can absorb a family’s life savings, and a visit to the hospital may involve days of travel and burdensome expenses.

Smokers expose their homes and workplaces to unnecessary fire hazards, and they often pay higher premiums for health and property insurance. The largest opportunity costs of smoking exist in countries that can least afford it, exacerbating global disparities in income and health.

Albania. The average smoker wastes two months’ wages (US$436) per year on cigarettes.

Bangladesh. If the average household bought food with the money normally spent on tobacco, more than 10 million people could be lifted from malnutrition and 350 children under age five could be saved each day.

Indonesia. Paternal smoking diverts money from basic necessities to cigarettes and increases risk of child malnutrition in rural areas

Monitor tobacco use and prevention policies
Protect people from tobacco smoke
Offer help to quit tobacco use
Warn about the dangers of tobacco
Enforce bans on tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship
Raise taxes on tobacco

Building on the first-ever global public health treaty - the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) - the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2008 issued a comprehensive country-level report on the global tobacco epidemic. This report provides data from 179 countries covering 99% of the world’s population and sets baselines for implementation and enforcement of the six evidence-based and cost-effective policies of the WHO MPOWER strategy. Currently only 5% of the world’s population is fully protected by any one of the MPOWER interventions and no country implements and enforces all of them. By taking action to implement MPOWER, the leaders of governments and civil society can create the necessary environment to protect children from tobacco, help people quit tobacco use and save millions of lives a year.

The final version of the online Tobacco Atlas will have information on MPOWER steps related to the issues portrayed on each map.