Reductions in smoking can reduce health gaps between the rich and the poor.

Smoking is more common among poor men than among rich men in nearly all countries; for women, the situation is more variable given low smoking prevalence among women in many developing countries. In developed countries, smoking accounts for much of the mortality gap between the rich and poor. Recent estimates for Canada, England and Wales, Poland and the United States suggest that the excess mortality of poor men in these countries is largely explained by differences in smoking between the rich and poor. Reductions in smoking among the poor can reduce health disparities between the rich and the poor.

Bobak M, Jha P, Nguyen S, Jarvis M . Poverty and smoking. In Jha P and Chaloupka FJ,( eds). Tobacco Control in Developing Countries, 2000:41-61.

Ross H, Chaloupka FJ . Economic policies for tobacco control in developing countries. Salud Publica Mex 2006;48 (suppl�1):S113-S120.

Source: http://www.treatobacco.net/en/page_138.html