The report, which was prepared by the consulting firm Arthur D. Little International, appeared to be one of the first direct acknowledgments by a tobacco company that smoking kills. The industry has previously recognized that cigarettes cause serious diseases, including cancer, but this report accepted without argument that smokers die prematurely.

The report also acknowledged that second-hand smoke can be a health threat to nonsmokers.

The British-based group Action on Smoking and Health said the study was "a sort of extermination program for the newly retired."

"The whole exercise is repellent and should be dismissed," said John Connolly, its public affairs manager. "Philip Morris is whispering in the ear of the Czech government, saying: 'Look, we can help you deal with those expensive old people, so why don't you go easy on controlling smoking?"'

Philip Morris, which makes 80 percent of the cigarettes sold in the Czech Republic, said it received the report in November and gave it to the Czech government recently in response to Health Ministry claims that smoking constitutes an economic drain.

The company said that the report was only intended as economic data.

"We deeply regret any impression that premature death of smokers could represent a benefit for society," Remi Calvet, communications director for Philip Morris at European headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, said in a statement. "Tobacco is a controversial industry, but we are still an industry and sometimes we need some economic data on our industry."