We know that smoking has a devastating impact – a typical life-long smoker aged 30 can expect to lose about 10 years of life expectancy. But the effects of smoking extend far beyond that.

Smoking keeps people in bad health and has a negative impact on the length of their working life and on productivity (although this is often overlooked). While tobacco use has been declining in the UK for decades, 14.1% of adults still smoke. And many more former smokers are living with the damaging after-effects.

Our research has found that:

• Economic activity rates are lower among current/ex-smokers, compared to people who have never smoked.
• If current/ex-smokers had never smoked, the difference in the equivalent rates of economic activity would boost the UK economy by £19.1 billion a year or 1.9% of earnings.
• There’s a strong relationship between smoking and disability: men who have never smoked enjoy 5 more years of disability-free life expectancy (at age 20) than current/ex-smokers, while the equivalent figure for women is 5.8.

Smoking is responsible for 77,600 deaths a year in England alone. It remains the top behavioural risk factor among people aged 50-69 for years lost to disability. We can’t continue to ignore its role in preventing health improvements, as well as its negative effects on economic output. In July 2019, the Government stated its ambition of going “smoke-free” in England by 2030 – but this will require significant action.

Policy makers must prevent people from taking up smoking. We recommend that they:

• Raise the legal age for purchasing tobacco to 21 (in the first instance).
• Reduce tobacco affordability by raising the annual rate of increase in UK tobacco duties from 2% to 5% plus inflation.
• Reduce the size of the illicit market by introducing a tobacco licensing system for retailers and wholesalers.

Helping smokers quit is also important, especially as quitting smoking not only reduces the risk of death, but reduces morbidity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has made the link between our health and our economies inescapable, and exposed the dangers of under-investing in prevention. We call on the Government to take advantage of this shift in mindset to commence effective action and reduce the economic and health costs of smoking, to realise our full economic potential as our populations age.