Summary
This brief summarises research conducted using data from 2019 to look at the impact of smoking on poverty. It found that 1.5 million households that included a smoker were in poverty. Stopping smoking would have increased disposable income by 9% on average but the proportion varies depending on where people live, with those in the North of England seeing a bigger on average increase than those in the South.
More recent analysis estimates that the cost of smoking is now an average of £2,451 a year including spend on illicit tobacco. This has increased from analysis in 2019 which found the average spend was just under £2,000.
