Hygiena 2007, 52(4):110-114

Economics of the Smoking Habit in the Czech Republic

Daniela Habrová, Drahoslava Hrubá

Ústav preventivního lékařství, Lékařská fakulta MU, Brno

This study concentrates on information about the economic measures used to curb the tobacco smoking habit, and about their effectiveness and cost-effectiveness. It also provides an analysis of the impact of smoking on the Czech economy in 2003 weighing up the profits and losses within public funds caused by smoking.
Using the methods of nationwide studies in other countries, the data from the Czech Home Office, 2001-2004; Czech Institute of Health Information and Statistics, 2003 and 2006; Czech Statistical Office, 2003 and 2004, the analysis of the impact of smoking on the Czech economy shows that it has a negative impact on the public purse. The national treasury had a loss of approximately fifteen thousand million CZK because of the smoking habit in 2003. This alarming result is even underestimated as it was not possible to include some of the public expenses for liquidating the consequences of the smoking habit because of insufficient data. Moreover, in such cases when the public expenses could be counted in different ways, the lower one has been considered for the calculation. It can be estimated that the economic loss in other years would be similar.

Keywords: smoking habit, economics, Czech Republic

Published: December 2007  Show citation