The average smoker spends almost £92,000 on tobacco during his or her lifetime, a report said yesterday.
The survey of 3,000 people showed that the average smoker spent £1,493 per year on the habit.
Regular smokers get through an average of 15 cigarettes per day, but most admit to increasing their quota at weekends, taking the weekly figure to 116.
If all the smokers in Britain gave up tomorrow, leaving the 72 billion cigarettes they will get through in the next year unsmoked, the country would collectively save £17 billion.
Ian Willmore, a spokesman for Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), said: "This survey shows just how wasteful and addictive smoking is. [Telegraph, Oct 08 2005]
This was a British study so I did some currency conversions. £92,000 using today's currency rates would be about US$162,000 dollars or about P9,000,000. 'Still plenty of money saved if the smokers didn't smoke.
But since we are not buying cigarettes here using British pounds, I did some math with the help of Tito Rols. He said an average cigarette pack costs P25 each. A pack contains 20 cigarettes.
For the sake of discussion, let us assume that an average Filipino smoker consumes 10 cigarettes daily. That's P12.50 daily, P87.50 weekly, P350 monthly, and P4,200 yearly.
If a smoker starts smoking at around 15 years old, he would have spent around P231,000 by the time he reaches his 70th birthday.....that's if --- and that's a BIG IF --- he gets lucky, and does reach 70 years old.
There. I hope I made my point. If you're a smoker and those health warnings don't make any sense to you, perhaps the economic and financial side of smoking will.
8 reactions:
Ang laki pala talaga ng matitipid ano? What's more kung magkasakit ka because of smoking, na doble pa ang nawala sayo. Yung ginastos sa sigarilyo, at yung ipangpapagamot mo. Hay, buhay.
If you analyze it more, Tito Rolly, the smoking expense becomes some sort of "investment" for a much bigger expense when the smokers develop lung cancer and get hospitalized. Hospitalization expenses for lung cancer can reach thousands of pesos, and it can easily drain whatever financial savings you have.
They would just spend all that money on lottery tickets anyway. :)
Hahahaha, Beajerry. At least, in the lotteries, you have a slim chance of winning. In smoking, it's nothing but a losing streak.
hi doc, long time no see :)
you know, the best reward for ex-smokers like me is just to keep reading about the benefits of having stopped. you see i have been off the marlboro lights for 2 years now
although i wouldn't say that it's easy. once in a while i juat have this urge to light the cigarette for someone who is about to smoke in front of me. but i don't. buti na lang.
waaaaaaa.... malaki na taalga ang naubos ko sa pag yoyosi. matagal ko na din iniisip mag quit and still ala pa din... minsan nag stop ako, na hospitalized nman ako. hmmm sana nga
Hello, Mrs P! Indeed, long time, no see. The temptation is great, but the challenge to resist offers some pretty good rewards later on. Be strong. It's good to hear from you.
Hello, Deng. Kaya yan. You can do it. :)
I have a friend who smoked more than two packs a day. This happened until the government raised the sin tax on cigarettes so high that he was feeling the pinch.
One day he decided to will himself to stop. This he did, miraculously. Today he tells me that he should have stopped a long time ago because now that he has kicked the habit, he seems always to have some spare money in his pocket! Kudos to those who have kicked the habit. The world is less smoky because of you!
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