The Toll of Tobacco in Pakistan

Tobacco Consumption

• 19.1% percent of adults (age 15+) currently use tobacco in any form (men 31.8%; women 5.8%).¹
  • 12.4% of adults smoke tobacco
  • 7.7% use smokeless tobacco
  • 3% use waterpipes (hookah or shisha)
• Among youth (ages 13-15):²
  • 10.7% use any tobacco product (boys 13.3%; girls 6.6%)
  • 7.2% smoke tobacco, and 5.3% use smokeless tobacco
  • Among youth who have ever smoked, nearly 40% first tried a cigarette before age 10

Secondhand Smoke Exposure

There is no safe level of secondhand smoke.³

• 72.5% of adults (16.8 million people) who work indoors are exposed to tobacco smoke at the workplace.¹
• 86% of adults who visited restaurants in 2014 (49.2 million people) were exposed to secondhand smoke, and 76.2% of adults who used public transport were exposed to secondhand smoke.¹
• 37.8% of youth (ages 13-15) are exposed to secondhand smoke in public places, while 21% of youth are exposed to secondhand smoke in their homes.²

Health Consequences

Tobacco use is deadly. Smoking kills up to half of all lifetime users.⁴

• Tobacco kills over 163,600 people each year in Pakistan. Almost 31,000 of these deaths are due to exposure to secondhand smoke.⁵
• Tobacco causes about 16.0% of all male deaths and 4.9% of female deaths. Overall, 10.9% of all deaths are caused by tobacco.⁵
• Tobacco causes 66.5% of all deaths from tracheal, bronchus, and lung cancer, 53.2% of deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, 21.9% of deaths from ischemic heart disease, 15.2% of deaths from diabetes mellitus, and 16.8% of deaths from stroke.⁵

Costs to Society

Tobacco exacts a high cost on society.

• The economic cost of smoking in Pakistan is Rs 615.07 billion (US$3.85 billion), equal to 1.6% of Pakistan's GDP.⁶
  • In 2019, the economic cost of smoking was about five times greater than the revenue from the tobacco industry.
• Money spent on tobacco reduces households' spending on food, health, education, housing, and household durables.
  • In Pakistan, tobacco-consuming households spend on average 2.7% of their monthly budget on tobacco.⁷
  • Poor households spend 3.0% of their budget on tobacco. This is more than they spend on education (1.8%).⁷

Tobacco Industry

International companies hold almost all of the cigarette market in Pakistan. In 2017, British American Tobacco led with 65.6% of the retail volume market share, and Philip Morris International followed with 30%. In Pakistan, 52 billion cigarettes were sold in 2017.⁸

FCTC Status

Pakistan ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control on November 3, 2004. The treaty went into effect on February 27, 2005.

Tobacco Control Policy Status

For a summary of measures on smoke-free places, advertising and promotion, packaging and labeling, and taxation and price, download the Pakistan Tobacco Control Policy Status fact sheet. For more information visit the Tobacco Control Laws website.

¹Pakistan Global Adult Tobacco Survey (GATS): Fact Sheet. World Health Organization; 2014. Available from: www.emro.who.int/tobacco/tfi-news/gats-pak-results.html.
² Pakistan Global Youth Tobacco Survey (GYTS). World Health Organization; 2013. Available from: www.emro.who.int/images/stories/tfi/documents/GYTS_FS_PAK_2013.pdf?ua=1.
³ World Health Organization. WHO Report on the Global Tobacco Epidemic 2009.
⁴ World Health Organization. Tobacco: Key facts. Updated May 27, 2020.
⁵ Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2019. Seattle, WA: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME), University of Washington; 2021. Available from: vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/.
⁶ Nayab D, Nasir M, Memon JA, et al. The Economic Cost of Tobacco-Induced Diseases in Pakistan. Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad. 2021. Available at: https://tobacconomics.org/research/the-economic-cost-of-tobacco-induced-diseases-in-pakistan/
⁷ Saleem W, Iqbal MA. The Crowding Out Effect of Tobacco Spending in Pakistan. Social Policy and Development Centre. March 2021. Available at: https://spdc.org.pk/publications/the-crowding-out-effect-of-tobacco-spending-in-pakistan
⁸ Euromonitor International 2018.

Last updated Aug. 3, 2021