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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 data1.2 billion
people in 2024 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.
46 countries
saw cigarettes become less affordable between 2014 and 2024; in contrast, 64 countries saw cigarettes become less affordable between 2012 and 2022.
43.5%
of the price of a typical cigarette pack in low-income countries was tax in 2024. By contrast, total tax accounted for 67.3% of price in high-income countries.
Total taxes as a share of the price of the most sold brand of cigarettes
GHO TOBACCO_MPOWER_R_TAX MAP 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 TOBACCO_MPOWER_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: 2014-2024
GHO TOBACCO_MPOWER_R_AFFORDABILITY MAP Tobacco affordability
Gathering global data
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Tobacco taxation indicators
Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes
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Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: tobacco products annual tax revenue, latest reporting period -
Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: tobacco products annual tax revenue, previous reporting period
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Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: Tobacco and nicotine products national taxes
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Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: Retail price for tobacco and nicotine products
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Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: Reported use of earmarked taxes
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Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: Tax structure
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Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: Tax administration
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Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: Inflation-adjusted prices for most sold brand of cigarettes
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Tobacco MPOWER Raise taxes: affordability
Contact us
Please send us your comment or question by e-mail.
Email address to use : TAXUnit@who.int