The prevalence and the socio – economic costs of smoking among the working age population in Latvia

Rīga Stradiņš University, Riga, Latvia

Abstract

Smoking is a health problem, the costs of which include sickness, pain, grief and misery. But tobacco use also imposes a significant economic burden on society. One efficient way to assess the adverse health effects of smoking on a society is to translate smoking-caused illnesses, premature mortality, and productivity losses into economic terms, a universal marker for measuring the adverse effects of smoking. Due to the high proportion of smokers, Latvia faces high male mortality from smoking-related diseases; life expectancy for men in the age group 35–64 years is 2.44 years less than for non-smokers in the same age group, losing 37% of total lost years of life and therefore the government loses approximately 45 88346 Euro per year from YPLL from smoking related diseases.