The Global Health Observatory
Explore a world of health data
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Health taxes are excise taxes levied on products that have a negative public health impact, for example tobacco, alcohol and sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs). Those are taxes targeting specific products that are proven to be unhealthy or harmful to health and aim to increase their relative price to make them less affordable therefore reducing their consumption and preventing or mitigating these negative health outcomes. These taxes are considered win-win-win policies because they save lives and prevent disease while advancing health equity and mobilizing revenue for the general budget. Monitoring the price and tax applied to those products is an essential tool to assess the level of implementation of those taxes, the affordability of those products to consumers at country level and to identify over time best practices in tax policy as well as existing policy and implementation gaps.
Total tax share on cigarettes
61.6%
the total tax share in the weighted average price of the most sold brand of cigarettes
Total tax share on beer
30.2%
the total tax share in the weighted average price of the most sold brand of beer globally which is about half the total tax imposed on cigarettes globally
Total tax share on sugar-sweetened carbonated beverage
22.8%
the total tax share in the weighted average price of an internationally comparable brand of sugar-sweetened carbonated beverage globally, which is about two third less that the total tax imposed on cigarettes globally