Tobacco and household expenditure in Egypt: insights into socioeconomic inequalities and spending profiles from the Household Income, Expenditure and Consumption Survey

In 2017/2018, one-tenth of Egyptian smoker household's expenditure was allocated to tobacco, disproportionately concentrated among the poorest. Our results preliminarily indicate that tobacco expenditure is associated with potential compromises of varying extent in almost all other expenditures in smoker households. This baseline profiling of household tobacco expenditure can potentially inform an evidence-based tobacco taxation policy, supporting the reduction of tobacco-associated socioeconomic inequalities.