Parental smoking and child poverty in the UK: an analysis of national survey data.

Charmaine Belvin,John Holmes,Tessa Langley,John Britton

doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1797-z

Abstract

BackgroundIn 2011/12 approximately 2.3 million children, 17% of children in the UK, were estimated to be in relative poverty. Cigarette smoking is expensive and places an additional burden on household budgets, and is strongly associated with socioeconomic deprivation. The aim of this study was to provide an illustrative first estimate of the extent to which parental smoking exacerbates child poverty in the UK.MethodsFindings from the 2012 Households Below Average Income report and the 2012 Opinions and Lifestyle Survey were combined to estimate the number of children living in poor households containing smokers; the expenditure of typical smokers in these households on tobacco; and the numbers of children drawn into poverty if expenditure on smoking is subtracted from household income.Results1.1 million children - almost half of all children in poverty - were estimated to be living in poverty with at least one parent who smokes; and a further 400,000 would be classed as being in poverty if parental tobacco expenditure were subtracted from household income.ConclusionsSmoking exacerbates poverty for a large proportion of children in the UK. Tobacco control interventions which effectively enable low income smokers to quit can play an important role in reducing the financial burden of child poverty.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-015-1797-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Highlights

In 2011/12 approximately 2.3 million children, 17% of children in the UK, were estimated to be in relative poverty
Our analyses combined findings from several national surveys, taking the most recent available at the time of the study, to estimate the number of children living in relative poverty by household structure; apply smoking prevalence data to estimate the number of children living in poor households containing smokers; and estimate the expenditure of typical smokers in these households on tobacco
We estimated the numbers of children drawn into poverty if expenditure on smoking is subtracted from household income

Summary

Introduction

In 2011/12 approximately 2.3 million children, 17% of children in the UK, were estimated to be in relative poverty. In 2011/12 2.3 million children in the UK, or 17% of all children, were living in relative poverty defined as less than 60% of median equivalised household income [1]. These children are more likely to live in inadequate housing and in more deprived communities, be exposed to high levels of air pollution, have a poor diet, develop depression and other long term health problems, and to be absent from school [2,3,4].

Objectives

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion