How many in Britain still smoke and what is it costing us?
Fortunately fewer and fewer people are smoking in the developed world but, here in Britain, almost one in five (18.5%) is still a smoker. According to a new report entitled “Smoking Still Kills”, the annual cost is almost £13 billion – £2 billion to the NHS, £1 billion to social care, and the rest in wider costs to society. Of course, the human cost is even greater with 80,000 premature deaths in England each year and all sorts of ill-health experienced by millions.
A coalition of 120 public health organisations believes that we should be aiming to reduce the proportion of UK smokers to 5% by 2035 and that a levy should be imposed on tobacco companies to help pay for the harm that cigarette smoking causes. You can read more about the report here.