Matt LevinMarch 5, 2012 07:42

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — Some 14.2 percent of Costa Ricans smoke. But soon they could have hardly anywhere to do it.

Erin Conway-SmithDecember 22, 2011 13:43

Senegal: Outrage over $0.79 packs of Marlboro cigarettes

Anti-smoking activists in Senegal are fuming over a decision by Philip Morris International to cut the price of Marlboro cigarettes to just 79 cents a pack.

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Packets of cigarettes are seen in a mobile tobacconist's booth in Dakar, Senegal on December 20, 2011. US tobacco giant Phillip Morris has reduced the price of its best-selling Marlboro cigarette brand by 40 percent in Senegal. (SEYLLOU DIALLO/AFP/Getty Images)

While a pack of Marlboro cigarettes costs about $6 in the United States, the price in Senegal is now a bargain basement $0.79, following a decision by Philip Morris International (PMI) to cut prices in the West African country.

Marlboro, the world's best-selling cigarette, now costs 400 CFA francs (79 cents US) a pack in Senegal, down from 650 CFA francs — a price cut of nearly 40 percent, according to Agence France-Presse.

Stephanie GarlowJuly 8, 2011 16:57

Smoking rates: Lighting up in Latin America

Nearly 3.8 billion people worldwide live in countries with some kind of anti-smoking measure.

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(Ivan Alvarado/Reuters)

The number of countries with anti-smoking laws is growing, and Costa Rica might soon join the ranks.

Lawmakers are debating a bill that would ban smoking in some public places and raise the tax on cigarettes.

Costa Rica has been trying to pass the ban since 2008, but the bill has couldn't get through the legislature.

If it finally passes, Costa Rica won't be alone among Latin American countries with anti-smoking laws.

Of course, just because laws are on the books, doesn't mean everyone is snuffing out their smokes.

Costa Rica tries to go smoke-free

Senegal: Outrage over $0.79 packs of Marlboro cigarettes

Smoking rates: Lighting up in Latin America