What's the difference between life expectancy of cigarette smoker and general population? Some say that smoking cigarettes will shorten lifespan. By how many years is the lifespan of a typical smoker shortened? What are the common cause(s) of death among smokers? Are there any known statistics for cigarette smoking and life expectancy?

The difference in life expectancy between smokers and non-smokers appears to be at least 10 years on average, in a survey of American adults between 1997 and 2004.

The same paper lists causes of death (higher among smokers than non-smokers, as measured by hazard ratio), although this is not exhaustive: lung cancer, other cancers, ischemic heart disease, stroke, other vascular disease, and respiratory disease have an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.7 or more, with 94% of lung cancer deaths attributable to smoking among female smokers, and 93% to smoking among male smokers.

If you have access, you will probably find Table 2 (hazard ratios) of interest.

Figure 2 shows the survival probability: !Survival probabilities - smokers vs non smokers