A new study published in the journal Addiction reveals that smokers in Britain miss two to three additional days of work compared to their non-smoking counterparts every year and cost the economy more than £1.4 billion in 2011.

Researchers from University of Nottingham analyzed over 29 independent studies from North America, Europe, Japan, New Zealand and Israel and found that employees who smoked missed an average of 2.74 additional days of work every year compared to non smokers.

This was true even for former smokers who had given up the habit with researchers stating that they were 14 percent more likely to miss work compared to those who had never smoked. "The results of this systematic review implicate that quitting smoking may reduce absenteeism and result in substantial cost-savings for employers", the researchers wrote in their report.