This file photo take on June 18, 2021, shows a group of eight people eating together in Gwangju, southwestern South Korea. (Yonhap)
SEOUL, May 17 (Korea Bizwire) — The social losses caused by alcohol consumption, cigarette smoking and obesity have reached nearly 42 trillion won (US$32.9 billion), a study showed Monday.
The National Health Insurance Service estimated that socioeconomic costs caused by health risks posed by drinking, smoking and obesity reached 41.8 trillion won as of 2019, up by 16.3 percent from 2015.
Drinking posed the highest health risk (36.1 percent), followed by obesity (33.1 percent) and smoking (30.8 percent).
The socioeconomic cost of alcohol consumption stood at 15.8 trillion won, in which 81.1 percent of the cost was generated by men and 18.9 percent by women.
Sorted by the type of cost, 33.3 percent of the cost was generated by lower productivity, followed by loss of future income due to early death (31.7 percent) and medical costs (22.8 percent).
The socioeconomic cost of obesity as of 2019 stood at 13.8 trillion won, of which 57.5 percent was generated by men and 42.5 percent by women.
Sorted by the type of cost, 53.4 percent was generated by medical costs, followed by a decrease in productivity (19.1 percent) and loss of future income (13 percent).
The socioeconomic cost of smoking as of 2019 stood at 12.8 trillion won, up by 12.3 percent from 2015. Sorted by gender, 81.8 percent of the cost was generated by men, and 18.2 percent by women.
Sorted by the type of cost, 35 percent was generated by the loss of future income, followed by medical costs (30.1 percent) and lower productivity (21.8 percent).
H. M. Kang (hmkang@koreabizwire.com)
