Two million deaths in less than 20 years.

This is the number of deaths linked to smoking tobacco and nicotine products that the Health Ministry estimates the country will see if nothing is done to eradicate the habit in future generations.

In an interview on Friday, Health  Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the ministry projected that it would cost the government RM8.8 billion by 2030 to treat three major smoking-related diseases — lung cancer, heart disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

This is almost three times the estimated RM3 billion in tax collected from the sale of tobacco products.