The cost of smoking in England data from

The cost of smoking in England: data from the Smoking Toolkit Study Robert West Last updated: 20 September 2009 1

Methods • Smoking Toolkit Study: a series of national household surveys of representative samples of approximately 1700 adults aged 16+ in England with a special focus on the ~500 who have smoked within the past year • Sample weighted to match census on demographics • Computer-assisted interviews • Focus on smoking, smoking reduction and smoking cessation activities 2

What smokers pay for their cigarettes • • • Questions asked from October 2007 to June 2009 N=7721 Mean spend: £ 20. 01 pw No trend over time Lower social grades pay less per cigarette largely because of Roll-Your-Own but have higher cigarette consumption and spend less per week on smoking overall • Regression analysis – – Dependent variable: daily cost of smoking Predictors: manufactured cpd, RYO cpd Multiple R: 0. 92 The average cost of 20 cigarettes: • manufactured £ 4. 80 • RYO £ 1. 90 3

Buying cheap cigarettes • Sample: 1180 smokers: March to May 08 • Measure: – Illicit source: person in pub, street, trusted local source, friend – Abroad: brought back from overseas • Lower social grades more likely to buy from illicit source, higher social grades more likely to bring back from abroad • Figures for illicit purchase are likely to under-estimate because of sampling bias towards high social responsibility Questions supplied and study funded and implemented by ASH 4

Cost of smuggled cigarettes • Mean cost per cigarette in those who smoke no illicit cigs: 27 p • Mean cost per cigarette in those who smoke at least some illicit cigs: 20 p • But partly accounted for by higher use of RYO in smokers of smuggled cigs • Adjusting for percentage of cigs that are RYO – difference in cost per 20 cigs in those who smoke only licit and those who smoke at least some illicit cigs: 52 p 5

Conclusions • Licit roll-your-own cigarettes are half the cost of manufactured cigarettes • Smokers from lower social grades smoke more illicit cigarettes and so pay less to smoke than higher social grade smokers despite smoking more cigarettes • The cost of smoking is further reduced by an average of 52 p per 20 in those who smoke at least some smuggled cigarettes • Raising duty on roll-your-own tobacco and making further efforts to control smuggling are probably the most important tobacco control measures that the government can adopt, particularly with a view to reducing health inequalities 6