Global estimate
US$25.7 billion / year
TobaccoPlastics
Estimated waste-management and marine ecosystem-service losses from cigarette plastic waste.
View country estimate →
The costs of tobacco to society
Estimates, calculators and research on the health, economic, social and environmental costs attributable to tobacco, to help governments measure these costs and recover them from the tobacco industry.
Calculators
Global estimate
Global estimate
US$1.69 billion / year
Cigarette-Butt Water-Treatment Calculator
Estimate potential water-treatment costs using country-specific inputs.
Calculate for a country →
External tool ↗
Tobacco Atlas · CoRRE
Cost Recovery and Revenue Estimator
Economic cost of smoking by country, the gains from reducing it, and the extra tax revenue. Developed by the Tobacco Atlas (American Cancer Society, Vital Strategies, Johns Hopkins). Opens the Tobacco Atlas website in a new tab.
Open CoRRE (external site, opens in a new tab)
The harms
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
Ten categories of harm
Ten categories of harm for which the tobacco industry can be held accountable, adapted from a STOP/GGTC accountability framework. Each shows how far it has been costed and the most relevant reading.
Illness, disability and premature death
Tobacco kills up to half of its users when used as intended, through disease, disability and premature death, including from secondhand smoke.
Long-term harm to children and young people
Early nicotine dependence, smoke exposure, and about 1.3 million children working in tobacco fields instead of going to school.
Poverty, addiction and household financial hardship
Addiction and tobacco-related illness drain household budgets and displace spending on food and other essentials.
Food insecurity and losses to farming livelihoods
Tobacco occupies land that could grow food and depletes soil, while contract growing keeps many farmers in debt.
Environmental damage, resource depletion and fires
Deforestation from growing and curing, butts as the world’s most littered item, toxins in water, and fires.
Human rights violations and labour exploitation
Production and marketing that conflict with the right to health, and supply chains built on poor labour practices, including child labour.
Illicit trade and corporate-tax losses
Companies investigated and fined for complicity in smuggling; revenue lost to illicit trade and tax avoidance.
Disinformation and fraud
Misleading the public and concealing harm to weaken tobacco control, as found in the US racketeering (RICO) case.
Lobbying, interference, corruption and delayed policy
Lobbying, gifts and pressure on officials that delay or weaken protective measures.
Legal challenges and the costs of defending public policy
Litigation against tobacco control laws that delays measures and forces governments to spend public funds on their defence.
Cost estimates
What has been counted globally
Estimates of the cost of tobacco worldwide, with what each includes and excludes.
Illness and premature death · 152 countries
Global economic cost of smoking-attributable diseases
US$1.436 trillion2012
Health care US$422 bnLost productivity US$1,014 bn
Excludes secondhand smoke, smokeless tobacco and environmental damage.
Goodchild et al., 2018
Environmental damage · per year
Tobacco industry accountability for marine pollution: country and global estimatesGGTC study
US$25.7 billionper year
Waste management ≈US$5 bnMarine ecosystem losses ≈US$20.7 bn
Excludes toxic effects, accumulated pollution, deforestation, emissions and water use.
Sy, 2023
Regional, multi-country and historical
Regional · 8 Latin American countries
US$49.8 bn2020
Health, economic and social burden of tobacco in Latin America
Medical care, lost productivity and unpaid caregiving.
Pichón-Riviere et al., 2024
Multi-country · 6 countries
US$2.3 bnChina, 2021
Modelling the global economic costs of tobacco product waste
Direct clean-up costs in Brazil, China, Germany, India, Jordan and South Africa.
Lam et al., 2022
Global · historical (1998)
US$27.2 bn1998 US$
Fire injuries, disasters, and costs from cigarettes and cigarette lights
Losses from fires caused by cigarettes and lighters, in 1998 US dollars.
Leistikow et al., 2000
Country studies
South KoreaChildrenHealth-care costs of secondhand smoke at home among childrenAbout US$152 more per exposed child up to age 20 (2018 US$).
Includes: Five childhood conditions.Excludes: Other illnesses, caregiver costs, effects after age 20.Park and Bae, 2020
BangladeshFarmingThe economic cost of tobacco farming in BangladeshNet social loss of about BDT 77,400 per acre of tobacco.
Includes: Unpaid family labour, own land and fuelwood, soil treatment, farmer health costs.Excludes: Effects beyond the farm.Hussain et al., 2020
South AfricaIllicit tradeTax revenue lost due to illicit cigarettes, 2002–2022About R119 billion in excise and VAT (2022 prices).
Includes: Excise and VAT; range R65–130 billion.Excludes: Corporate tax; not attributed to any one company.Vellios and van Walbeek, 2024
6 countriesCorporate taxAshes to ashes: how British American Tobacco avoids taxesNearly US$700 million in tax projected to be lost by 2030.
Includes: Profit shifting in Bangladesh, Brazil, Guyana, Indonesia, Kenya, Trinidad and Tobago.Excludes: Excise and VAT. Projected, not observed.Tax Justice Network, 2019
UruguayLegal challengesPhilip Morris v. Uruguay: the cost of defending health warningsJust over US$10 million in legal costs; Philip Morris ordered to pay US$7 million plus fees.
Includes: Uruguay’s arbitration costs.Excludes: Staff time, delay and wider policy costs.IELP, 2017
Full references
- Goodchild M, Nargis N, Tursan d’Espaignet E. Global economic cost of smoking-attributable diseases. Tobacco Control. 2018;27(1):58–64.
- Sy DK. Tobacco industry accountability for marine pollution: country and global estimates. Tobacco Control. 2023. doi:10.1136/tc-2022-057795.
- Pichón-Riviere A, et al. Health, economic and social burden of tobacco in Latin America and the expected gains of fully implementing taxes, plain packaging, advertising bans and smoke-free environments control measures: a modelling study. Tobacco Control. 2024;33(5):611.
- Lam J, Schneider J, Shadbegian R, Pega F, St Claire S, Novotny TE. Modelling the global economic costs of tobacco product waste. Bulletin of the World Health Organization. 2022;100:620–627.
- Leistikow BN, Martin DC, Milano CE. Fire injuries, disasters, and costs from cigarettes and cigarette lights: a global overview. Preventive Medicine. 2000;31(2):91–99.
- Park J, Bae S. Modeling healthcare costs attributable to secondhand smoke exposure at home among South Korean children. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020;17(12):4496.
- Hussain AKMG, et al. The economic cost of tobacco farming in Bangladesh. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2020;17(24):9447.
- Vellios N, van Walbeek C. Tax revenue lost due to illicit cigarettes in South Africa: 2002–2022. BMJ Open. 2024;14(3):e077855.
- Tax Justice Network. Ashes to ashes: how British American Tobacco avoids taxes in low- and middle-income countries. 2019.
- International Economic Law and Policy Blog. ISDS tobacco litigation costs. 2017.
From costing to recovery
Article 19 of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control asks Parties to address the tobacco industry’s criminal and civil liability, including compensation. Parties have since been urged to enforce that liability through criminal, civil or administrative procedures and effective, proportionate and dissuasive sanctions, and to hold the industry accountable for the damage it causes to the environment. They have also asked for policy options and tools to recover costs from the industry, including levies, fees and surcharges, for work on administrative and other non-judicial liability measures alongside the courts, and for methods to estimate the environmental and health damage the industry causes.
Recovering these costs depends on measuring them, which is what the estimates and calculators on this page do.
ESG
What tobacco ESG reporting leaves out
Tobacco companies’ ESG and sustainability reports are self-reported: each company selects the indicators it discloses. The reports highlight activities such as tree planting, clean-ups and donations, and do not account for the costs described on this page, as GGTC’s analysis of tobacco industry ESG reporting shows. The columns below set out the costs that fall under each ESG pillar.
E
Environmental costs
Typically reportedTrees planted, clean-up sponsorships, emission-intensity targets
- Deforestation and land clearing600 million trees and 200,000 hectares a year. WHO, 2022
- Water and climate22 billion tonnes of water and 84 Mt CO₂e a year. Zafeiridou et al., 2018
- Plastic waste and marine damageUS$25.7 billion a year; 4.5 trillion filters discarded. Sy, 2023
- Toxic pollution and firesPesticides, leachate from butts into water, and fires from cigarettes.
S
Social costs
Typically reportedCommunity donations, farmer-support and child-labour programmes
- Death and diseaseUS$1.436 trillion a year in health care and lost productivity. Goodchild et al., 2018
- Child labour1.3 million children work in tobacco production. STOP, 2021
- Farmer debt and food insecurityContract growing that keeps farmers in debt, on land that could grow food. STOP, 2023
- Youth addiction and household povertyMarketing to young people, and household spending diverted by addiction and illness.
G
Governance costs
Typically reportedCodes of conduct, board policies, “regulatory engagement”
- Interference in policyLobbying and pressure that delayed tobacco control laws in at least 10 countries. GGTC and STOP, 2025
- Litigation against health lawsPublic money spent defending them: Uruguay >US$10 million. IELP, 2017
- Illicit trade and tax avoidanceRevenue lost: South Africa R119 billion; BAT profit shifting ~US$700 million. GGTC, 2026
- Disinformation and fraudConcealing the harms of smoking, as found in the US racketeering (RICO) case.
Further reading
Global action against tobacco industry greenwashing · Global Tobacco Index
An inherent contradiction: the tobacco industry’s environmental, social and governance activities · GGTC, 2022
Turning tobacco extended producer responsibility into extended producer liability · Sy et al., 2025
Towards health with justice: making the tobacco industry accountable through administrative liability · Sy et al., 2024
Tobacco Liability Hub (GGTC)
Legal frameworks and options for holding the tobacco industry liable.