German researchers calculate that the real price of a pack of 20 cigarettes is €34, but the true costs associated with smoking are even bigger than that. The smoker's family and wider society pay the price too, writes Derek Scallyin Berlin
The price of a pack of cigarettes is like the length of a piece of string. But now smokers who complain through a blue haze about the ever-climbing cost of their habit have something new to consider. German researchers say they have calculated the true price of that pack of 20 cigarettes: €34.
They arrived at the figure by totting up not only the medical costs incurred by smokers and the cost of smoking-related disabilities but also the reduced economic contribution to society by smokers, largely due to reduced life expectancy.
The study from the University of Hamburg throws up further startling statistics: for a young man who starts smoking regularly at 24, the habit will cost almost €172,000 over the course of his life.
And, as a direct result of his smoking habit, his life is likely to be on average 10 years shorter than a non-smoker.
"This is the first attempt to calculate the total cost of smoking to the smoker, their family and the wider society," says Prof Dr Michael Adams of the School of Law and Business at the University of Hamburg.
"Previous attempts to calculate the cost of smoking, mostly done by doctors, stop calculating the cost when the smoker dies and costly medical treatment ends.
"What we have added is the cost of the destroyed life expectation," adds Adams cheerily.
Adding together the total costs to the smoker, the smoker's family and wider society, the average smoking man incurs costs of €221,517, while a woman smoker costs €104,797. With 34 per cent of the German population smoking, that works out at a total cost of €55 billion .
The German report draws on federal statistical data as well as an influential study by American economist Frank Sloan of North Carolina's Duke University.
That study makes calculations about the inherent value of human life similar to when judges in court have to calculate compensation payments for lives cut short or seriously impaired by accident or negligence.
"We arrived at the price of €34 because a smoker doesn't just cause costs for himself but for his dependents, for society through the lost income tax and social welfare contributions," says Adams.
The study breaks down the cost of smoking into three categories: private internalised costs, semi-external costs and externalised costs.
The breakdown of private costs to the average smoker is startling: for men, €186,000 in costs for treatment for medical conditions and handicap.
Of key importance here, according to Adams, is that smoking affects every aspect of someone's working life, from earning potential to promotional prospects.
"Smokers are proportionally over-represented in the lower classes. They are also less likely to be promoted into leading positions meaning they earn less and pay less taxes," he says.
The semi-external costs of smoking are also high: the average smoking man costs their partner €32,000 through shortened life span and costs of handicap. Women smokers cost their partners a total of €16,348.
Finally, the external cost of smoking - the cost to the wider society - works out at an average of €2,157 per smoker, or 50 cent per pack of cigarettes.
The relatively low figure is a result of high tobacco taxes and the ghoulish fact that, by dying early from smoking-related illnesses, smokers save governments a fortune in medical treatment, not to mention social contributions.
"A man who smokes pays into a pension fund all his life but is likely to die before he gets anything back," says Adams.
Despite the unvarnished truths contained in his report, the German academic is optimistic that it will become a part of cigarette price-setting policy in finance ministries across the EU.
However, he says: "I've attended finance ministry meetings here and called for the price of a pack of cigarettes to be doubled from €4 to €8. They all gave me funny looks."
Further reading: The Price of Smoking by Frank A. Sloan is available from amazon.com