How much does tobacco use cost Switzerland?

Tobacco consumption leads to health care costs in Switzerland of 6.1 billion CHF per year. CHF 3 billion through direct costs to the health care system and CHF 3.1 billion in indirect costs and production losses incurred.

CHF 3 billion through direct costs to the health care system and CHF 3.1 billion in indirect costs and production losses incurred.

Let's put the 6.1 billion into context and make comparisons.

Average price of a pack of cigarettesin Switzerland (CHF 7.-)

Average price of a pack of cigarettesin Australia (CHF 30.-)

1 day of skiing in the Jungfrau region of the Bernese Oberland (CHF 80.-)

Annual cost of consuming a pack of cigarettes a day (CHF 2,555.-)

Cost of a second-class adult GA Travelcard (CHF 3,860.-)

Treatment of advanced or metastasized non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for 12 months with the drug TECENTRIQ from Roche Pharma (CHF 92,174.-)

Cost of a child up to the age of 20 in Switzerland CHF 190,000.-

Purchase price of an ambulance (CHF 260,000.-)

Cost of medical studies (CHF 642,000.-)

4-room apartment in the city of Bern (CHF 795,000.-)

it's not over yet.

Finally, the salary of a nurse after 20 years of work (1.7 million CHF). With one billion CHF, 580 more nursing staff could be financed for 20 years.

Switzerland is facing an annual loss of at least 6.1 billion CHF, due tobacco consumption.

A study in the United States found that e-cigarette users were more likely to have poorer health than non-smokers. The cost of care for people who smoke electronic cigarettes exclusively totals USD 15 billion per year (Wang, Sung, Lightwood, et al. (2022)).

A person who smokes electronic cigarettes generates USD 2000 in additional health costs compared to a person who consumes neither nicotine products nor tobacco. This figure rises for consumption of both tobacco and other nicotine products. E-cigarette sales are also growing exponentially in Switzerland. AT-Switzerland projected a sales increase of 2200% in 2022 (Ruggia, 2022).

This infographic does not include the environmental costs of e-cigarette and tobacco use (littering, production, water pollution, the use itself). The estimation of environmental costs is a complex process with many variables. AT-Switzerland estimates costs in the billions of dollars.