Tobacco smoking in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...
is legal, but under certain circumstances is banned. If calculated on per day basis, 177 million cigarettes per day were consumed in FY-14. According to the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey, 46 per cent men and 5.7 per cent women smoke tobacco. The habit is mostly found in the youth of Pakistan and in farmers, and is thought to be responsible for various health problems and deaths in the country. Pakistan has the highest consumption of tobacco in
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth descr ...
.
Fiscal Year 2014
Pakistanis spent Rs. 250 billion on over 64 billion cigarettes in the financial year FY14, disclosed a
State Bank
A state bank is generally a financial institution that is chartered by a federated state, as opposed to one regulated at the federal or national level. State banks differ from a reserve bank in that it does not necessarily control monetary polic ...
report recently issued. The State Bank's Statistical Bulletin reports that Pakistanis smoked 64.48bn cigarettes in the year FY-14. The average price of cigarette is considered Rs5 (conservative estimate) and the total price of 64.48bn cigarettes comes to an estimated Rs258bn. The most popular brand Gold Leaf is available at Rs 300 per pack of 20 cigarettes or Rs 15 per cigarette. The minimum price of cigarettes available in the market is Rs 50 per pack of 20 cigarettes or Rs1.25 per cigarette. Costly imported cigarettes are also available in the market which can go up to Rs 450 plus per pack. The main 3 companies took major part in tobacco industry. There are a number of smuggled cigarettes which find their way from Afghanistan whose landing port is in Karachi, Pakistan.As of 2022 the price of cigerratte is around pkr 6 per cigarette.
Effects on health
Lung cancer
Lung cancer, also known as lung carcinoma (since about 98–99% of all lung cancers are carcinomas), is a malignant lung tumor characterized by uncontrolled cell growth in tissues of the lung. Lung carcinomas derive from transformed, malign ...
in Pakistan is caused directly by tobacco in 90% of cases. It claims lives of 100,000 people every year.
According to the study conducted by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on national treasury versus public health (2018–19), it was learned that there are above 23.9 million tobacco users in the country, out of which 125000 are dying every year because of tobacco inducted diseases. and tobacco usage is still increasing day by day and mostly are children.
Smoking fashion
A high amount of the youth in
Karachi
Karachi (; ur, ; ; ) is the most populous city in Pakistan and 12th most populous city in the world, with a population of over 20 million. It is situated at the southern tip of the country along the Arabian Sea coast. It is the former c ...
is addicted to tobacco smoking. It has become fashion for students to smoke
Hookah in
Hookah lounge
A hookah lounge (also called a shisha bar or den, especially in Britain and parts of Canada, or a hookah bar) is an establishment where patrons share shisha (flavoured tobacco) from a communal hookah or from one placed at each table or a bar.
...
s. Recently, In the year 2019, Hookah was banned all over Pakistan and Hookah lounge were closed down by the authorities.
Smoking alternatives
Smoking alternatives such as vape products were introduced in Pakistan in 2013, and have since then grown to a niche market with many local brands opening shops across the country. However, teenagers in Pakistan have a negative attitude towards the usage of e-cigarettes.
A fairly recent introduction to smoking alternatives in Pakistan is Nicotine Pouches. Launched by the Pakistan Tobacco Company (PTC), a part of British American Tobacco (BAT), Velo Nicotine Pouches are tobacco free and delivered nicotine through oral absorption that does not involve any combustion. Electrical cigarettes or vapes have been also introduced and sold as anti-smoking campaign by the company Buzz On Club owned by renowned Pakistani social media stars
See also
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History of smoking
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Tobacco smoking
Tobacco smoking is the practice of burning tobacco and ingesting the resulting smoke. The smoke may be inhaled, as is done with cigarettes, or simply released from the mouth, as is generally done with pipes and cigars. The practice is believed ...
References
{{Social issues in Pakistan