Smoking in Pakistan
Tobacco smoking in Pakistan is legal, but under certain circumstances is banned. If calculated on per day basis, 177 million cigarettes per day were consumed in FY-14. According to the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey, 46 per cent men and 5.7 per cent women smoke tobacco. The habit is mostly found in the youth of Pakistan and in farmers, and is thought to be responsible for various health problems and deaths in the country. Pakistan has the highest consumption of tobacco in South Asia.
Fiscal Year 2023
Pakistanis spent Rs. 250 billion on over 64 billion cigarettes in the financial year FY-14 according to a State Bank report recently issued. The State Bank's Statistical Bulletin reports that Pakistanis smoked 64.48bn cigarettes in the year FY-14. The average price of cigarette is considered Rs5 and the total price of 64.48bn cigarettes comes to an estimated Rs258bn. The most popular brand Gold Leaf is available at Rs 500 per pack of 20 cigarettes or Rs 30 per cigarette. The minimum price of cigarettes available in the market is Rs 50 per pack of 20 cigarettes or Rs1.25 per cigarette. Costly imported cigarettes are also available in the market which can go up to Rs 600 plus per pack. The main 3 companies took major part in tobacco industry. There are a number of smuggled cigarettes which find their way from Afghanistan whose landing port is in Karachi, Pakistan.Effects on health
90% of Lung cancer in Pakistan are caused directly by tobacco. It claims the lives of 163,600 people every year; nearly 31,000 of those deaths are from inhaling second-hand smoke.According to the study conducted by Sustainable Development Policy Institute on national treasury versus public health, it was learned that there are above 23.9 million tobacco users in the country, out of which 125000 are dying every year because of tobacco inducted diseases. and tobacco usage is still increasing day by day and mostly are children.