Costs of smoking

Using three scenarios it was calculated what the difference in costs and revenues would be between the current society and a society in which no one has ever smoked. In the middle scenario the balance of costs and revenues is minus 33 billion euros per year. The costs of smoking are largely caused by the loss of healthy years of life and the loss of quality of life due to smoking. Other major cost items are production losses due to smoking and higher health care costs of smokers. This is offset by benefits because people who die prematurely due to smoking don’t have healthcare costs and receive no pension benefits.