Cigarette pricing varies widely from country to country

The research, published in the journal "Tobacco Control", comes just over a month before Chancellor Gordon Brown's first Budget of the new Parliament.

The journal also carries research on claims that the tobacco industry misled the public over the health risks of "low tar" cigarettes, conspired with Hollywood to place advertising in films, and hid worries about the inhalation of chemicals from filters.

The pricing survey, carried out by the World Health Organisation, it compared the change in price in cigarettes over the past decade with the relative change in the wealth of smokers in dozens of different countries.

Tax changes

In each case, the measure used was the number of minutes an averagely-salaried worker would have to work in order to afford a packet of cigarettes.

Minutes worked to afford cigarettes

UK 40mins US 20mins (Los Angeles) Japan 9mins India 102mins China 62mins

The UK's heavy taxation of cigarettes in recent years means that, in real terms, this has increased over the past 10 years.

But the report said: "Despite recent increases in price, cigarettes are still more affordable than they were in the 1960s".

On average, a smoker must work for 40 minutes to pay for a pack of 20 cigarettes in the UK.

In Japan, only nine minutes of labour is required to make the purchase, while in Kenya, the cost is prohibitive, with a packet of Marlboro requiring 158 minutes of work on average.

Clive Bates, from the anti-smoking pressure group Action on Smoking and Health (Ash), said that it was currently too easy for smokers to find ways of cushioning themselves against price rises while still maintaining their habit.

They could change to cheaper brands, use hand-rolled tobacco or buy contraband tobacco at rock-bottom prices.

He said: "There is quite a lot of scope within the pricing structure for discouraging this kind of behaviour.

"And the government could deal effectively with tobacco smuggling."