Tobacco Control Scale 2019 – Ranking of countries in tobacco control in Europe

This report presents the results of a survey of tobacco control measures in 36 European countries in 2019, using the Tobacco Control Scale (TCS), first described in the 2006 paper by Luk Joossens and Martin Raw, “The European Tobacco Control Scale: A New Scale to Measure Country Activity ". The data used for the 2019 survey refer to legislation in force as of January 1, 2020, price data from 2018, and the tobacco control budget in 2018. Any legislation, price increases, or funding introduced or implemented after these dates are not included in this report. The scale quantifies the implementation of tobacco control policies at the country level and is based on six policies outlined by the World Bank as priorities in a comprehensive tobacco control program, namely:

• Price increases through high tax increases on cigarettes and other tobacco products;
• Smoking bans/restrictions in public places and workplaces;
• Better consumer information, including public information campaigns, media coverage and dissemination of research results; A complete ban on advertising and promotion of all tobacco products, direct and indirect, including logos and brand names;
• Broad health warnings placed on cigarette cartons and other tobacco product packaging
• Treatments to help addicted smokers quit, including increased access to medication.

The Tobacco Control Scale assigns points to each measure implemented, with a maximum score of 100: price (30 points), smoke-free public places (22 points), budget for public information campaigns (10 points: reduced from 15 points in previous editions), complete ban on tobacco advertising (13 points), strong health warnings (10 points), support for quitting (treatment) (10 points), combating illicit trade (3 points: This is a new indicator in the 2019 scale) and tobacco industry interference (2 points: This is a new indicator in the 2019 scale). Countries that have not ratified the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control lose one point (This is a new indicator in the 2019 scale). Results and problems: • Three countries (Slovenia, Greece and Austria) improved their score by 14 points or more. • Seven leading countries have 60 points or more. The best score is 80 out of 100 (United Kingdom). • Fifteen countries have average results ranging from 50 to 59 points. • The remaining 14 countries score less than 50 points and therefore need to do much more. • Three countries scored very low, with less than 45 points. The lowest ranking is 40 out of 100 (Germany) A major concern is the lack of funding for tobacco control. No country is spending the €2 per capita target on tobacco control, only Iceland comes close. The TCS scores for budgets are extremely low and we see funding being cut in several countries. The second major concern is the influence of the tobacco industry, which remains the biggest obstacle to the introduction of effective tobacco control policies.

Read the translation of the Tobacco Control Scale in French

©Generation Without Tobacco

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