The World Bank and Tobacco Control: The Facts

Tobacco use is the world’s leading underlying cause of preventable death.

• In the last decade, global deaths from tobacco have increased from 2.1 million to 6 million.
• Every year 600,000 non-tobacco users, mostly women and children, die from exposure to tobacco smoke.
• Worldwide, 200 million adult women smoke cigarettes. In 25 countries, girls smoke more than boys.
• Smoking is responsible for about 20% of global tuberculosis (TB) incidence, and reduces the effectiveness of TB treatment. About 90,000 TB patients died last year because they smoked.
• Between 2000 and 2008, total costs attributable to tobacco in China more than quadrupled, from US$7.2 billion to US$28.9 billion.
• In Bangladesh, direct costs of smoking are estimated at US$386 million, or more than 1% of GDP.
• Between 2003-2008, 11.3% of Egypt’s total health expenditure was used to treat tobacco-related illness.
• In 2003, Vietnamese smokers spent 3.6 times more on tobacco than on education and 1.9 times more that on health care.
• In all World Health Organization (WHO) regions except in Europe, cigarettes became much more affordable between 2000 and 2010.

The World Bank has been a global leader on tobacco control.

• Since 1991 the World Bank’s policy has been not to lend, invest in, or guarantee investments or loans for tobacco production, processing, or marketing.
• The Bank’s activities in the health sector discourage the use of tobacco products.
• A 1999 Bank report, Curbing the Epidemic: Governments and the Economics of Tobacco Control, contributed to adoption of the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control.
• The Bank’s Economics of Tobacco Toolkit helps researchers analyze the economics of tobacco policies in their respective countries.
• In Russia, the Bank engaged the government in policy dialogue on tobacco control through a report -- Dying Too Young in the Russian Federation -- which contributed to increases in tobacco and alcohol taxes.
• During the last decade the Bank has published 30+ research papers analyzing the economics of tobacco control in multiple countries, assessing the political economy of tobacco, and applying behavioral economics to tobacco control.

The Bank remains committed to help countries halt and reverse the use of tobacco.

• The Bank’s strategy for health, nutrition and population identifies tobacco control as one of the key interventions for health outcomes and includes reduction of the smoking prevalence among adults and teenagers as a key indicator.
• In partnership with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bank supports country efforts to increase tobacco taxes, as a cost-effective measure for tobacco control.
• The Bank collaborates with the WHO Framework Convention for Tobacco Control Secretariat, WHO's Tobacco Free Initiative, CDC's Global Tobacco Control Office, CDC Foundation, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids, to ensure coordination at country level on tobacco control.