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. 2021 Jun 25:7:47.
doi: 10.18332/tpc/137085. eCollection 2021.

Socioeconomic status and tobacco consumption: Analyzing inequalities in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa

Laura Rossouw  1
Affiliations

Socioeconomic status and tobacco consumption: Analyzing inequalities in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa

Laura Rossouw. Tob Prev Cessat. .

Abstract

Introduction: Globally, there has been a rapid rise in non-communicable diseases driven by changing lifestyle choices and health behaviors. Different lifestyle choices threaten to exacerbate existing health inequalities, yet evidence monitoring the extent of this impact in emerging economies is lacking. The article sets out to measure the level of wealth-related inequality and its drivers in one of these lifestyle choices, tobacco consumption, among populations aged ≥50 years in six Low- and Middle-Income Countries.

Methods: The study provides empirical evidence of the inequality in tobacco consumption across wealth groups in China, Ghana, India, Mexico, the Russian Federation and South Africa using the Erreygers' corrected concentration indices. These inequalities are then decomposed to gain a deeper understanding of the factors and broader social forces driving inequality. The WHO SAGE data set, collected between 2008 and 2010, is used for the analysis.

Results: Current tobacco consumption is concentrated among the poor in China, Ghana, India, and South Africa, and among the wealthy in the Russian Federation and Mexico. The inequalities widen when we focus solely on the male population. Although the results differ by country, the major drivers of inequality include wealth, locality, and gender.

Conclusions: The focus on tobacco consumption in this age group is key to curbing rising healthcare costs and ensuring longevity. Policies aimed at reducing wealth-related inequalities should especially target high tobacco consumption rates among males, while simultaneously pre-empting and curbing rising rates among women.

Keywords: LMIC; SES; inequality; non-communicable diseases; tobacco; tobacco control.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author has completed and submitted an ICMJE form for disclosure of potential conflicts of interest. The author declares that she currently serves as a lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Current tobacco consumption, disaggregated by gender
Figure 2
Figure 2
Contribution percent of each independent variable to wealth-related CTC inequality, per country
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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