The substantial efforts and polices are underway to control tobacco consumption in most countries using the ways of increasing prices and taxes and tightening regulations on it.  However, these ways should be differentiated depending on GDP levels because the higher GDP countries have relatively the higher level of education and the better awareness of health costs or bad effects from smoking they recon.

 

Using the data of 75 countries, which is collected from Tobacco Control Country Profiles 2003 published by WHO, I find that price control is the best way to decrease tobacco consumption in the lower GDP countries. on the contrary, the regulations such as counter-advertising and sponsorship regulation, youth access limitations, and smoke- free-environment do not seem to be a way to decrease the tobacco consumptions in these lower GDP countries but in the higher GDP countries, Therefore, this study suggests that the government polices to the tobacco consumptions should be changed depending on the level of its GDP: relatively lower GDP countries should place great importance on price while higher GDP countries should give priority to the non-price regulation rather than to price control.