AsianScientist (Apr. 30, 2026)–More than one in ten Indian households could get a financial boost large enough to move up one economic class by quitting tobacco, finds a new study. This could mean more resources for everyday essentials like education and health, better savings, and fewer medical expenditures for over 20 million families.
In the new study, published in BMJ Global Health, researchers from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, the Indian Council of Medical Research, and The Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research analysed data from more than 260,000 nationally representative households of the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey 2022–23. In the survey, tobacco consumption—including cigarettes, bidis, gutka, zarda, snuff, cheroot, and more—were recorded per household for seven-day periods.
The researchers used Deaton’s equivalence scale, a framework used for household consumption surveys that accounts for relative consumption requirements in households of different sizes. The poorest households spent the largest proportion of monthly income per head on tobacco at 6.4 percent. The proportion fell with increase in household income, with the richest households spending 2 percent per head.
The study also noticed urban–rural differences in tobacco consumption patterns. Across all economic groups, rural households allocated larger expenditure to tobacco (6.6 percent). This, the researchers suggest, points to structural differences beyond income, such as, cultural, social and accessibility factors in rural settings.
Quitting tobacco could potentially boost 11 percent , or 20.49 million, of Indian households into the next economic class, the analysis claims. These proportions would be higher in rural households (12 percent, or 17 million households), compared to urban ones (7 percent, or 3.5 million).
By giving up tobacco, 12.74 million of the poorest and lower-middle income households could escape their income classes, with rural households getting a bigger boost. Some would even climb two or three income levels. Five million middle-income households could also advance to higher economic classes, the study suggests.
The World Health Organization calls tobacco use a “deadly threat” to global development. Its use is linked to cancer, heart disease, and stroke. About 80 percent of the world’s tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries. These countries shoulder almost 40 percent of the total economic cost of smoking globally, which was US$ 1.4 trillion in 2012, almost 2 percent of the word’s GDP. Brazil, Russia, India, and China alone account for a quarter of the total.
Over 260 million Indians aged 15 years and over—or 29 percent—are tobacco users, with smokeless tobacco (khaini, gutkha, betel quid, zarda) preferred over smoking options. Almost 1.35 million people die annually from tobacco use in India.
“Our results demonstrate that tobacco cessation is not only a health imperative but also a powerful economic tool for poverty reduction,” the researchers say. “The substantial resources freed through tobacco cessation…represent meaningful opportunities for improved child nutrition, healthcare access, and educational investments.”
The researchers caution, however, that the study does not directly quantify economic uplift, as no definitive conclusions can be drawn about the actual economic benefits of giving up tobacco. It only documents tobacco’s direct economic constraints and the potential of cessation.
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Source: Tata Institute of Social Sciences ; Image: wirestock/magnific
This article can be found at: The economics of quitting: Estimating the uplift potential of Indian households through tobacco cessation
