Brazilian smokers spend 8% of income on cigarettes
Brazilian smokers spend approximately eight percent of their monthly household income per capita on cigarettes. Expenditures total almost ten percent among smokers aged 15–24, reaching 11 percent among Brazilians who did not finish middle school.
The figures can be found in a study by Brazil’s cancer institute INCA, published Wednesday (May 31) during the launch of the “We need food, not tobacco” campaign by the World Health Organization (WHO), which marked the World No-Tobacco Day.
“Overall, the sharpest variation occurs in income, not so much in spending. For people with less schooling in states or regions where the average income is lower, spending on cigarettes has a higher relative contribution,” Dr. André Szklo, one of the authors of the study, told Agência Brasil.
In the North and Northeast, where the average income is lower than in the Southeast and South, commitment to cigarette spending is also higher, Dr. Szklo noted. By gender, the percentage stands at eight percent for men and seven percent for women.
Cigarettes on the cheap
Dr. Szklo pointed out that Mato Grosso do Sul state borders Paraguay, an important entry point for illegal, tax-free cigarettes, which are cheaper than legal ones. After Paraguay, Brazil is the nation with the cheapest cigarette in the Americas. “We’ve seen a real decline—inflation discounted—in the price of legal Brazilian cigarettes since 2017. It’s a really cheap product.”
As a result, Dr. Szklo argued, smokers are not encouraged to break the habit and young people do not have much trouble starting.
The specialist warned that the money spent on cigarettes—a spending that can have a significant impact on the household budget—could be put to good use in other ways, on healthy food or leisure, physical, and sporting activities, as well as in preventing diseases.
The barrier must be restored, Dr. Szklo recommended, with higher tax rates on the final product. In his view, this may prove to be the most effective measure to reduce the number of smokers both new and old.
Investment in public health care
The resources stemming from this tax should be channeled to Brazil’s national public health care network, the SUS, he said, citing the treatment of diseases related to tobacco use as a possible area for investment.
“The cost of smoking to the country goes much beyond what’s collected in taxes from the tobacco industry,” he declared. The collection reaches ten percent of the estimated yearly BRL 125 million, he added.
