Four in ten smoking households in the North East are living in poverty
SHOCKING new figures show that 4 out of 10 households in the North East (42%) with a smoker are living in poverty – compared with 3 out of 10 nationally in England.
It means 112,000 households in the North East where someone smokes is living in poverty, including 153,040 adults of working age, 28,005 pensioners and around 72,404 dependent children.
Health campaigners say the figures are the clearest evidence yet of the “iron chain” between smoking and poverty – and are calling for more action from the Government to tackle addiction, life chances and inequality.
The new analysis of national data is commissioned by charity Action on Smoking and Health (ASH) and comes as people across the UK brace themselves for further rises in the cost of living in 2022. It also comes as the government published its Levelling Up White Paper which includes a goal to raise healthy life expectancy by 5 years and narrow the healthy life expectancy gap between rich and poor.
The data shows:
- The average smoker is spending just under £2,000 a year on tobacco costing England smokers a total of £12 billion annually. [1]
- Each year in the North East, 112,000 or 42% of smoking households are living in poverty when spending on tobacco is taken into account, including 153,040 adults below pension age, 28,005 pension age adults and around 72,404 dependent children. [2]
- Smokers’ employment chances and average earnings are also damaged by smoking creating further hardship for people, especially those who have to give up working due to smoking-related ill health. In the North East 17,177 people are economically inactive due to smoking and smokers earn 6.8% less than non-smokers. [3]
- Current smokers are 2.5 times more likely to require social care support at home and need care on average 10 years earlier than non-smokers [4], accounting for 8% of local authority spending on adult social care.
Ailsa Rutter OBE, Director of Fresh and Balance, said: “We already know smoking causes death and disease but these appalling figures also show how tobacco addiction worsens poverty and misery on an industrial scale. Smoking harms our economy, harms job prospects and costs people years of active life.
“For people trapped in poverty, the stress and the worry makes it even more difficult to break free of the addiction of smoking. Most smokers would like to be able to quit and it is vital we give people in our poorest communities the support, the confidence and the means to stop.
“The biggest scandal of all here is that people and communities in regions like the North East die and suffer while tobacco companies boast to shareholders about their profits. It is time they are made by the Government to pay a share towards prevention.”
Deborah Arnott, Chief Executive of Action on Smoking and Health, said: “Smoking is the single largest driver of health inequalities in England and it is shocking that it’s contributing to more than two million adults living in poverty, concentrated in the most disadvantaged regions in the country.
“Behind every statistic is a human being. A real person, threatened by the debilitating health effects of smoking, and significantly poorer because of an addiction that started in childhood.
“We look forward to the forthcoming Tobacco Control Plan to achieve the Government’s smokefree 2030 ambition. This will play a key role in delivering the 2030 targets to narrow the gap in life expectancy, wellbeing and productivity between the top performing and other areas set out in the Levelling Up White Paper.
The new breakdown [5] published today [Wednesday 9th February] shows that In England as a whole 31% of households containing smokers live in poverty once spending on smoking is accounted for, whereas in the North East it is 42%.
The link between smoking and disadvantage is well established, but this new analysis highlights how the impact of smoking on local communities is compounded in regions where household incomes are also lower.
Region: Rate of poverty among smoking households / Number of smoking households in poverty
- England: 31% / 1,160,000
- North East: 42% / 112,000
- North West: 38% / 208,000
- West Midlands: 38% / 146,000
- Yorkshire and The Humber: 35% / 148,000
- East Midlands: 32% / 115,000
- South West: 30% / 110,000
- South East: 26% / 133,000
- East of England 26% 103,000
- London: 17% / 82,000
Households where people smoke are poorer because of an addiction which usually started in childhood. Two thirds of adult smokers started before they reached 18,[6] and most of them go on to become regular adult smokers.[7] Smoking is highly addictive and on average it takes thirty attempts before a smoker successfully stops for good. [8] |People living with social and economic hardship tend to be more addicted, and find it harder to quit, although they try just as often.[9]
The All Parliamentary Party Group on Smoking and Health in 2021 published its ‘Delivering a Smokefree 2030’ report which warned the Government that it can only build back better and fairer from the pandemic by making smoking obsolete and commit to a series of actions in a new tobacco control plan to secure its vision of a Smokefree 2030. These include:
- Funding for tobacco control programmes to be secured through a ‘polluter pays’ amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill, forcing manufacturers to pay to deliver the end of smoking.
- Targeted investment to provide additional support to help smokers quit in regions and communities where smoking does most damage. This includes those in routine and manual jobs and the unemployed; living in social housing; with a mental health condition; and pregnant smokers.
- More tobacco regulations to protect children and young people from becoming smokers and help smokers quit, such as putting health warnings on cigarettes and consulting on raising the age of sale to 21.