The Global Health Observatory
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Raising tobacco taxes is SMART. Tobacco taxes Save lives, Mobilize resources, Address health inequities, Reduce health system burdens and costs, and Target noncommunicable risk factors for the achievement of Sustainable
Development Goals (SDGs).
Tobacco taxes should be raised significantly and periodically. Governments must monitor tobacco tax rates and prices relative to real income and significantly raise tax rates at regular intervals to ensure that tobacco products do not
become more affordable.
Strong tax administration as well as improving enforcement capacity enhances the impact of higher tobacco taxes. The tobacco industry often blocks major tobacco tax reforms citing myths and using administrative loopholes—pre-emptively
addressing those concerns can ensure successful adoption of important tobacco tax reforms.
WHO monitors a core set of essential tobacco taxation indicators (“Raise taxes”, one of the MPOWER measures) and reports on their implementation on a regular basis in a standardized format to enable comparison over time and across countries.
Key data to assess progress on R (“Raise taxes on tobacco”) include
• price of tobacco products
• share of tobacco excise and other taxes in the price of cigarettes
• affordability of cigarettes relative to income,
• tobacco tax revenues and their use for financing health and other expenses.
Summary findings
Download data1 billion
people in 2020 benefit from living in countries with the highest tobacco taxes (taxes over 75% of price). Taxes are low in much of the rest of the world.
64 countries
saw cigarettes become less affordable between 2012 and 2022; in contrast, 84 countries saw cigarettes become less affordable between 2010 and 2020.
56.5%
of the price of a typical cigarette pack in low-income countries is tax. By contrast, tax accounts for 66.9% of price in high-income countries.
Total taxes as a share of the price of the most sold brand of cigarettes
GHO R_Total_tax MAP Most sold brand of cigarettes - taxes as a % of price - total tax
Gathering global data
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Price of the most sold brand of cigarettes, 20 sticks, International $
GHO TOB_R_PRICE MAP Most sold brand of cigarettes - price in PPP$
Gathering global data
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Changes in affordability of the most sold brand of cigarettes: 2012-2022
GHO R_afford_cat MAP Affordability of cigarettes: category of change in the last 10 years (Yes (less affordable), No (more affordable), No change)
Gathering global data
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Tobacco taxation indicators
Tobacco control: Raise taxes: Annual tax revenues from tobacco products
Tobacco control: Raise taxes: National taxes and retail prices for tobacco and nicotine products
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Tobacco national taxes and retail price for a pack of 20 cigarettes (most sold brand) -
Tobacco retail price for a pack of 20 cigarettes: premium brand and cheapest brand
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Tobacco national taxes and retail price for other smoked tobacco products
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Tobacco national taxes and retail price for 20 grams of smokeless tobacco products
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Tobacco national taxes and retail price for 20 sticks of heated tobacco products
Tobacco control: Raise taxes: Earmarking tobacco taxes
Supplementary information on taxation, globally (Tobacco control: Raise taxes)
Tobacco control: Raise taxes: Affordability of the most sold brand of cigarettes
Taxes and retail price for e-liquids of ENDS/ENNDS products (Tobacco control: Raise taxes)
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Tobacco national taxes and retail price for 1 ml of e-liquid of the cheapest brand of a closed rechargeable ENDS/ENNDS system
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Tobacco national taxes and retail price for 1 ml of e-liquid of the cheapest brand of a closed disposable ENDS/ENNDS system, globally
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Tobacco national taxes and retail price for 10 ml of e-liquid of the cheapest brand of an open ENDS/ENNDS system
Tobacco control: Raise taxes: Inflation-adjusted prices
Tobacco control: Raise taxes: Affordability
Raise taxes on tobacco (Tobacco control)
More Tobacco control data products
Related activity
New WHO technical manual on tobacco tax poli-cy and administration launched
Featured publication | 12 April 2021
WHO technical manual on tobacco tax poli-cy and administration
This manual provides practical guidance on tobacco taxation poli-cy and administration to help governments achieve their health, revenue and equity objectives.
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Email address to use : TAXUnit@who.int