Updated Economic Cost Estimates Associated with Cigarette Smoking.

Please note that OSH’s webpages have been updated with the latest economic cost estimates associated with cigarette smoking to include information from the new study Cost of Cigarette Smoking-Attributable Productivity Losses, U.S., 2018 and to adjust estimate to 2018 dollars.

• Cigarette smoking cost the United States more than $600 billion in 2018, including:
• More than $240 billion in healthcare spending,^{1, 2}
• Nearly $185 billion in lost productivity from smoking-related illnesses and health conditions,²
• Nearly $180 billion in lost productivity from smoking-related premature death, and, ^{2, 3}
• $7 billion in lost productivity from premature death from secondhand smoke exposure.^{3, 4}*

1.       Xu X, Shrestha S, Trivers KF, Neff L, Armour BS, King BA. U.S. Healthcare Spending Attributable to Cigarette Smoking in 2014. Preventive Medicine 2021 (150): 106529. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ypmed.2021.106529.
2.       Shrestha SS, Ghimire R, Wang X, Trivers KF, Homa DM, Armour BS. Cost of Cigarette Smoking Attributable Productivity Losses, United States, 2018. Am J Prev Med 2022.
3.       U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2014. The Health Consequences of Smoking—50 Years of Progress: a Report of the Surgeon General. U.S. Department of Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Office on Smoking and Health, Atlanta. https://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/sgr/50th-anniversary/index.htm.dex.htm.
4.       Max W, Sung HY, Shi Y. Deaths from secondhand smoke exposure in the United States: economic implications. American Journal of Public Health 2012;102(11): 2173–80. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2012.300805.
*The $7 billion number is based on original estimate from Max et al⁴ e. updated to 2018 dollars.

• Cigarette smoking cost the United States more than $600 billion in 2018, including more than $240 billion in healthcare spending and nearly $372 billion in lost productivity.