Tobacco tax hikes effective but underutilized in WHO Euro Region

The WHO Technical Manual on Tobacco Fiscal Policies[1] confirms that increasing tobacco prices is the most effective and cost-effective mechanism for reducing tobacco consumption. However, tobacco taxation remains largely underutilized in public policies in the WHO Euro Region and throughout the world.

In 2018, only 38 countries, covering 14% of the world's population, had sufficiently high levels of tobacco taxation (i.e., taxes representing at least 70% of the product retail price)[2]This insufficient tobacco taxation does not allow for significant price increases and leads to avoidable illnesses and premature deaths as well as lost revenue for governments. Only tobacco manufacturers benefit.

Tobacco tax policies in the WHO Euro region

Each year, tobacco kills 1.6 million people in the WHO European Region. A combination of measures, brought together within the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC), is necessary to effectively combat the tobacco epidemic. In this regard, taxation is a crucial tool in the effort to achieve a tobacco-free Europe. Article 6 of the WHO Framework Convention encourages tariff and fiscal measures and recalls that this is the most effective method of action to reduce the demand for tobacco[3].

WHO recommends that at least 75% of the retail price of tobacco should be taxed in countries in the Region, a target that has only been achieved by 26 of the 53 countries.[4] concerned. Taxation efforts vary within the Region, with some sub-regions making slower progress on taxation. For example, all 10 countries with product taxation levels below 50 % of the retail price belong to the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). A large disparity in cigarette retail prices is observed within the Region, ranging from $0.48 in Belarus to $12.69 in Norway for the price of a pack of 20 cigarettes of the best-selling brand. The gap is 1.82 $ Int[5] in Belarus at 18.81 $ Int in Turkmenistan in international dollars at purchasing power parity. (For information, in this case it is $8 Int. for France and $14 Int. for the United Kingdom).

In 2019, the most popular cigarette brand even became more affordable since 2008 in several countries in the region, including Armenia, Georgia and North Macedonia.[6]

According to the report, it is by fully implementing the WHO FCTC, and Article 6 in particular, that the Euro Region will be able to reduce smoking and save lives.

Taxation, a mechanism that saves lives

The WHO estimates that if all countries in the Euro Region increased the amount of excise taxes on cigarette packs by 50 billion, there would be 49 million fewer smokers and at least 11 million tobacco-related deaths avoided. On the fiscal side, according to WHO global estimates, if taxes were increased by 50 billion per pack, governments would collect an additional 1 billion. These funds could be used to combat cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other noncommunicable diseases.[7] attributable in particular to smoking.

Currently, an estimated 186 million people in the European Region regularly smoke tobacco (manufactured cigarettes, rolling tobacco, pipe tobacco, cigars/cigarillos), including 67 million women.[8].

It is estimated that the reduction in smoking prevalence in the European Region by 2025 will not achieve the target of -301% of smoking in women set under the WHO Global Action Plan. The target would be only -181% of smoking in women. The European Region will be the only WHO region not to achieve this target of a relative reduction of 30% of smoking in women by 2025.

Keywords: Europe, WHO, Euro Region, taxation, taxes, tobacco Photo credit: ©WHO ©Generation Without Tobacco

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[1] WHO technical manual on tobacco tax policy and administration, Geneva: World Health Organization; 2021. License: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. [2] Press release, US$ 1.4 trillion lost every year to tobacco use – New tobacco tax manual shows ways to save lives, money and build back better after COVID-19, WHO, April 12, 2021, accessed July 2, 2021 [3] Tobacco Control in Practice, Case studies of implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control in the WHO European Region, Article 6: Price and tax measures to reduce the demand for tobacco [4] Taxation Sheet, WHO Euro Region Office, [5] Price in international dollars. The international dollar is a unit of account that has the same purchasing power in a given country that the US dollar to UNITED STATES, at some point. [6] Factsheets on WHO FCTC implementation through MPOWER in the WHO European Region (2020), WHO Euro Region Office, [7] Ibid [8] European Tobacco use - Trends Reports, WHO Euro Region Office, 2019 National Committee Against Smoking |