This WHO report provides an updated global assessment of taxes applied to alcoholic beverages from the first assessment in 2022. It aims to inform policy decisions on alcohol excise taxation.
Some excerpts from the report’s key findings:
- As of July 2024, at least 167 countries applied excise taxes to alcoholic beverages at the national level, two did not apply any excise taxes, and another 12 countries banned the use of alcoholic beverages.
- Wine was exempted from excise taxes in at least 25 countries, particularly in the WHO European Region (which contradicts WHO’s recommendation that excise taxes apply to all alcoholic beverages where they are not banned).
- Fewer than one in four countries that implement specific excise tax systems mandate regular automatic adjustments to tax rates. This means that in most countries, these taxes may lose real value over time, as they are likely to be eroded by inflation.
- The global median excise tax share is low overall (only 14% for beer and 22.5% for spirits).
- Excise tax levels remain low in many countries, and beer and spirits remain affordable in most.
- Of the 146 countries that apply excise taxes to alcoholic beverages and for which information on earmarking is available, 28 earmark such revenue for a variety of health programmes, including for universal health coverage, the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, alcohol control interventions, and the promotion of physical activity.
- While other perspectives and competing factors have to be accounted for when designing taxation policies, the protection of people’s health should be a key consideration, particularly given the health, social, and economic burden associated with alcohol consumption and its related harms.
- Excise taxes on alcoholic beverages remain underutilized, and little progress has been made since 2022.
The report recommends that countries should improve tax design and increase taxes more systematically so that alcoholic beverage products become less affordable, and as a consequence, the burden of alcohol consumption and its related harms are effectively reduced.