© World Health Organization 2004

“Tobacco and poverty” is a package developed for the World No Tobacco Day 2004 campaign. “Tobacco increases the poverty of individuals and families” illustrates how in most countries, tobacco use tends to be higher among the poor. In turn, poor families spend a larger portion of their income on tobacco. Money spent on tobacco cannot be spent on basic human needs, such as food, shelter, education and health care.

It also shows how tobacco can worsen poverty among users and their families since tobacco users are at much higher risk of falling ill and dying prematurely of tobacco-related diseases, depriving families of much needed income and imposing additional costs for health care.