A new study has showed that the Americans who are engaged in smoking habit spend at least USD one million dollars on expenditures related to cigarette buying, whether modern electronic cigarette or traditional one, over their lifetimes.
The conclusion was made on a state-by-state analysis by the financial consultancy company WalletHub.
In the study, Alaska emerged as the most expensive state for smokers where more than USD 2 million dollars were spent on average on the smoking habit. South Carolina, on the other hand, reported that the smoking habit costs roughly USD 1.1 million.
While talking about the revelations made in the study, WalletHub spokeswoman Jill Gonzalez said, “I and most people really just think of the cost of cigarettes and taxes on the packs, but if you think about the healthcare costs, which can totally be avoided, healthcare insurance premiums, and in the workplace, bias against smokers, that can … add up.”
In the study, “average smoker” is defined as a person who is smoking one pack a day from the age of 18 (which is the legal age to buy cigarettes and other tobacco products) and ending the habit at the age of 69 (which is the average age of death for a smoker).
The report by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows 42.1 million people in the country (who are at least 18-year-old) smoke and this costs a whopping USD 301 billion per year and the expense is set to grow unabatedly.