Over 70,000 Die Annually from Direct Smoking... Socioeconomic Losses Exceed 13 Trillion Won

KDCA Analyzes Harmful Effects of Smoking
on 'World No Tobacco Day'

An analysis has found that, in South Korea, the number of deaths caused by direct smoking exceeds 70,000 annually, and the direct and indirect socioeconomic costs surpass 13 trillion won each year.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) on May 30, the number of deaths in the country due to direct smoking increased from 61,360 in 2020, to 63,426 in 2021, and to 72,689 in 2022.

In addition, as of 2022, the risk of death for current smokers was found to be 1.7 times higher for men and 1.8 times higher for women compared to non-smokers. For former smokers (those who used to smoke but no longer do), the risk of death was 1.1 times higher for men and 1.3 times higher for women compared to non-smokers.

The direct and indirect socioeconomic costs due to direct smoking were estimated at 12.8912 trillion won in 2020, 12.9754 trillion won in 2021, and 13.6316 trillion won in 2022. Socioeconomic costs refer to the sum of direct costs, such as medical expenses and transportation costs resulting from disease, and indirect costs, such as productivity losses due to premature death and medical use.

The estimation of the socioeconomic costs of smoking-related harm has been calculated and analyzed annually at the national level since 2019 through the "Study on Smoking-Attributable Mortality and Socioeconomic Burden," and is used as supporting data for establishing national anti-smoking and tobacco control policies.

To calculate the number of deaths and mortality risk due to direct smoking, the KDCA analyzed four cohort datasets?"Customized Database for Smoking Harm Research," "Korean Cancer Prevention Study I and II," and "Korean Metabolic Syndrome Mortality Cohort Study"?in conjunction with cause-of-death statistics from Statistics Korea.

Ji Youngmi, Commissioner of the KDCA, stated, "Smoking is the most representative health risk factor causing chronic diseases such as various cancers. Quitting smoking is crucial not only for individual health but also for a healthy future society," adding, "We will continue to regularly calculate the number of deaths and socioeconomic costs attributable to smoking in order to provide scientific evidence for national tobacco control policies and anti-smoking initiatives."