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We are devoted to improving access to economic research and information that can impact and inform tobacco policy. As a program of the University of Illinois at Chicago, Tobacconomics is not affiliated with any tobacco manufacturer. Learn about us »

$156 billion

in lost productivity from tobacco use annually between 2009-2012

5.8 trillion

cigarettes were sold to more than 1 billion smokers worldwide in the last ten years

21%

of littered cigarettes packs across the United States have no or inappropriately low tax stamps for their locations »

35% lower

youth daily smoking rates are found in countries with point-of-sale advertising bans compared to countries without bans  »

40% increase

in e-cigarette sales for every 10% increase in cigarette prices in the European Union »

Nearly 80%

of the world’s smokers live in low- and middle-income countries »

5.3 – 8.6 million

fewer adults would have smoked in 2013 if the US had adopted graphic warning labels in 2012 »

$658 million

in combined tobacco control expenditures for all 50 US states & D.C. in FY 2011 »

$170 billion

of annual healthcare spending in the U.S. can be attributed to cigarette smoking

Research funding provided by

  • Bloomberg Philanthropies
  • Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
  • Legacy
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation

Featured Research



Tobacco Tax & Price Chartbooks

Trying to learn more about state laws related to pricing, taxation, and tribal sales of tobacco products in the U.S.? These chartbooks can help. With state-by-state info and downloadable data sets, they’ve got all the information you need.


NCI & WHO Monograph: The Economics of Tobacco and Tobacco Control

The global tobacco control effort is growing and changing rapidly. Get the latest evidence on the economic costs of tobacco use and the economic benefits of tobacco control efforts worldwide.

Recent Research

4,000 suicides

per year could be prevented with a $1 increase in cigarette taxes across the US »

Recent updates

  • March 8, 2017

    UIC Selected As Core Partner of Bloomberg’s $360 Million Global Anti-Tobacco Initiative

    A group of global tax policy experts led by Dr. Frank J. Chaloupka, director of the Health Policy Center at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s (UIC) Institute for Health Research and Policy, joins six other global health organizations as a core member of the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. Chaloupka’s team will build the capacity of local think tanks to provide evidence-based policy support for effective tobacco tax policies in the highest tobacco-using low- and middle-income countries around the world. Dr. Chaloupka welcomes this new opportunity to partner with the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use. “We are honored to join the other core partners,” he said, “and we look forward to working together to help priority countries increase their commitment to the most effective tobacco control policy there is—tobacco taxation.” The Bloomberg … Read more »

  • February 27, 2017

    Tobacco Control: Saving Lives and Driving Development

    Tobacco use poses an unparalleled health and economic burden worldwide. A new study found that the diseases caused by smoking account for US$ 422 billion in health care expenditures annually, representing almost 6% of global spending on health. Smoking causes close to 6 million deaths per year – more than the deaths from HIV/AIDs, TB, and Malaria combined. And the total economic cost of smoking after including productivity losses from death and disability amounts to more than US$ 1.4 trillion per year – equivalent in magnitude to 1.8% of the world’s annual GDP. Globally, the public health and economic burden of tobacco is increasingly carried by low- and middle- income countries rather than high-income ones. Within low- and middle-income countries, the burden falls hardest onto the poor and vulnerable populations who can least afford the care. While tobacco use has been … Read more »

See all updates »