The Economic Cost of Smoking in South Africa, 2016

Chronic, noncommunicable diseases are on the rise globally, with tobacco consumption being an important contributing risk factor. These increases result in significant economic costs due to increased healthcare costs, productive lives lost, and productive days lost due to illness. Estimates of these economic costs are scarce in low- and middle-income countries.

Drawing on a diverse range of data sources, direct healthcare costs, and productivity losses due to illness and premature deaths were estimated using the cost-of-illness approach. The present value of lifetime earnings was used to estimate productivity losses from premature deaths.

We estimate that 25 708 deaths among persons aged 35-74 in 2016 are smoking-attributable. The economic cost of smoking was R42 billion (US$2.88 billion), of which R14.48 billion was for healthcare costs (hospitalization and outpatient department visits). The economic cost of smoking amounted to 0.97% of the South African GDP in 2016, while the healthcare cost of smoking-related diseases was 4.1% of total South African health expenditure. The costs are lower for women because of their lower smoking prevalence.

The economic burden of smoking calls for a further scaling-up of tobacco-control interventions in South Africa.

This article addresses the paucity of research on the detailed economic costs of smoking in low-and middle-income countries, including South Africa. Our calculations, based on an extensive range of recent data, provide the most detailed estimate to date and include quantification of the direct and indirect costs of smoking in South Africa. We found that the magnitude of the costs related to smoking in South Africa is larger than in the previous estimates and that for every Rand received in the form of cigarette tax, society loses 3.43 Rands. This article provides an economic case for evidence-based tobacco control in South Africa.