Smokers face financial cost
New research by insurance companies claims to expose the serious cost of smoking on household finances.
A study by PruHealth found that 6.5 million UK smokers aimed to give up in 2005: had they achieved this, they would have felt the benefits in their wallets even before they experienced the improvements in their health.
The company says if each one of those who intended to give up cigarettes had done so, they would have spared themselves and their families the collective sum of £11.9 billion.
With the cost of tobacco rising steeply through successive budget increases, smoking 20 cigarettes a day will now force a British consumer to cough up approximately £1,825 a year.
Research from Clerical Medical, timed to coincide with this month's National No-Smoking Day, shows that even smokers who class themselves in the 'social' category do not escape the cost.
They still manage to get through 756 cigarettes a year to the tune of approximately £11,000 over a lifetime.
Furthermore, there is no respite on the way for smokers, with recent consumer research showing that the prince of cigarettes is set to double by 2025. | 
