Child Smokers Spend Rp4.5 Trillion on 4.12 Billion Cigarettes Annually

An estimated 2.03 million children in Indonesia are projected to spend Rp4.5 trillion on purchasing cigarettes within a single year. This startling data was presented by Ridhwan Fauzi, a researcher from the Indonesian Health Policy Space (RUKKI) Foundation, during a discussion in Jakarta on Thursday.

Based on 2025 projections, the prevalence of child smokers aged 13–17, covering junior to senior high school levels, reaches 2.03 million individuals. RUKKI calculated these expenditures based on the average price of cigarettes consumed by children, which is approximately Rp1,000 per stick.

Ridhwan explained that the calculation also categorised family economic backgrounds into five quintiles, where quintile 1 represents the lowest economic group and quintile 5 represents the highest.

The results reveal a clear inequality. The prevalence of smokers in quintile 5 stands at 6%, while in quintile 1, or the lowest socio-economic group, it reaches 10%. This indicates that child smokers are more likely to come from families with limited economic means.

“This means that cigarette consumption is more heavily dominated by children from lower-middle-class families compared to upper-middle-class groups,” said Ridhwan.

Differences are also evident in average daily consumption. Children from quintile 5 consume an average of five cigarettes per day, whereas children from quintile 1 consume seven sticks per day. Overall, the average consumption for child smokers reaches 5.62 sticks per day, with a total prevalence of 9.2%.

Accumulated over a year, total cigarette consumption for this age group reaches approximately 4.17 billion sticks. From a financial perspective, the total expenditure of Rp4.5 trillion by children also contributes to state revenue through excise, local taxes, and VAT. However, Ridhwan emphasised that this figure represents a waste of consumption funds by children.

In response to these findings, RUKKI is urging the government to implement serious interventions to reduce the number of child smokers. One proposed strategic step is increasing excise rates and eliminating policies that allow cheap cigarettes to remain on the market.

“This certainly requires serious intervention, including increasing excise and removing the discourse on cheap cigarettes. Because it is clear that when cheap cigarettes are reintroduced, the lower-income groups will face the largest expenditures,” concluded Ridhwan.