[Socioeconomic costs due to tobacco smoking]

The objective of the study was to calculate costs attributable to smoking from both a societal and a public finance perspective. The Cost-of-Illness analysis was based on incidence data from 1995 and 1996, estimated with the attributable fraction, based on English and Danish RR-estimates respectively. The indirect costs are calculated with both the friction and the human capital method. In 1995, smoking attributable costs in Denmark amounted to 4100 million DKK with the friction method and based on Danish RR-estimates, including 3600 million in direct costs and 500 million in indirect costs. A public cash flow analysis showed a net revenue of about 3900 to 5600 million DKK. Compared with previous results for Denmark (1983), the annual costs to society increased by about 118%. It is suggested that similar Cost-of-Illness analyses are carried out at regular intervals to monitor the economic consequences of smoking in society.