Tobacco is a determinant of poverty and a barrier for development. Monaragala, a rural, agricultural district, reports the highest poverty-related indicators in southern Sri Lanka. A cross-sectional study was used to describe the household expenditure on tobacco and its association with food- and education-related expenditures at household level. This study used a 4-stage cluster sampling method to recruit a representative sample of 1160 households. Response rate was 98.6%. Median monthly household income was LKR 20 000 (interquartile range [IQR] = LKR 12 000-30 000). The median monthly expenditure on tobacco was LKR 1000 (IQR = LKR 400-2000) with the highest spending tertile reporting a median of LKR 2700 (IQR = LKR 2000-3600).The proportionate expenditure from the monthly income ranged from 0.0% to 50% with a median of 5.0% (IQR = 2.0-10.0) and a mean of 7.4% (7.6). The poorest reported the highest mean proportionate expenditure (9.8%, SD = 10) from the household income. Household expenditure on tobacco negatively associated with expenditure on education.
Keywords: Sri Lanka; household expenditure; poverty; rural; tobacco.