Estimating the Economic and Social Costs of Tobacco Use in Sri Lanka

Thematic Area: Human Resource Development

Start Date: June 2026

Tobacco use imposes a substantial economic burden on individuals, households, the health system and the wider economy through tobacco-attributable illness, premature mortality and productivity losses. In Sri Lanka, the last comprehensive national estimate was conducted in 2015. Since then, changes in tobacco consumption, healthcare costs, population structure, labour-market conditions, tobacco taxation and the broader economic environment highlight the need for an updated assessment. Advances in epidemiological evidence, particularly the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study 2019, also allow a broader range of tobacco-attributable diseases to be considered, including cancers, cardiovascular, respiratory and metabolic conditions. The proposed study will update and extend the 2015 assessment by estimating health system costs, out-of-pocket expenditure and indirect costs from a societal perspective. The study will provide an updated estimate of the total economic burden of tobacco in Sri Lanka in 2026 and examine its distribution across disease categories and cost components, generating evidence to inform tobacco-control policies and resource allocation.