Tobacco is probably the only consumer product in the world that kills when used as intended. Half of all long-term smokers die from tobacco-related causes; half of those deaths are of people aged 35-69, causing significant losses of years of life.

The demographic characteristics of tobacco users have been changing rapidly. Tobacco used to be a rich man’s product but tobacco use has been increasing fast among poor and middle-income groups. People with lower income and less educated have less access to information on the adverse health impact of tobacco use, and respond less to such information.

Armenia can be considered as a country with high poverty level. The survey conducted in 1996 by the Ministry of Statistics in cooperation with the World Bank, showed that the poor represented 55 percent of the total population of Armenia, while the extremely poor constituted 28 percent of the total population. Though since then there has been no notable change in the share of the poor, as demonstrated by a similar study conducted for 1998/99, there has been a significant decrease in the share of the extremely poor - to 23 percent, which may be attributed to the introduction of a system of family allowances targeted at the very poor groups of the population.

The tobacco epidemic is avoidable. Governments of most developing countries are unprepared to deal with tobacco deaths increase, including the impact on health systems and health costs. Very few governments have implemented the fiscal and regulatory policies that can limit increases in tobacco-attributable diseases. But policy makers are likely to be aware of the concequences of tobacco control measures taken in their countries. This especially refers to the poor population of Armenia, as their reactions to the tobacco control measures implemented by the government are not expected to be similar with those of wealthier ones. So, tobacco control measures have to contain special procedures, adjusted to comprise the poor population in the countries, where the share of those is high.