Economics for Health - EfH

04/22/2026

A 🆕 policy paper from KIPPRA examines trends in production, consumption, employment, & revenues in 🇰🇪

The find:

📊 Beer & spirits make up the majority of alcohol consumption, with a recent shift towards spirits.
🔎 The alcohol industry makes up only 0.20% of total employment.
📉 Total alcohol excise revenue slightly declined b/w 2016/17 & 2022/23.

Learn more about the opportunities for to strengthen tax policy & regulations 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/analysis-of-the-alcoholic-beverages-sector-in-kenya/

04/20/2026

Between 2010 & 2024, ******es remained very affordable in 🇮🇩 despite small, periodic ***co tax increases 🔎

at CISDI find that reducing affordability by 10% would decrease demand by ~8️⃣%, including:

- 12% in low-income households and
- 6% in middle-income households.

Learn more about recommendations to significantly raise cigarette prices & effectively reduce consumption 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/cigarette-affordability-in-indonesia-recent-trends-and-elasticity

04/16/2026

Effective policies across can significantly reduce illicit ***co trade, while governments continue to increase taxes & raise additional revenue 🌍

A 🆕 brief from Smoke Free Partnership & Economics for Health - EfH highlights 2️⃣ examples of success:

🇲🇪 In , the share of illicit consumption decreased from ~50% in 2019 to ~25% in 2022, and excise tax revenue increased from €46.3 million to €119.2 million b/w 2019 & 2024 📈

🇧🇦 In , the share of illicit consumption decreased from ~32% in 2019 to ~8% in 2025, and excise tax revenue increased from €443.4 million to €583.4 million b/w 2019 & 2024 📈

Learn more about the lessons learned & implications for the To***co Tax Directive 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/mitigating-illicit-trade-success-in-montenegro-and-bosnia-and-herzegovina/

04/15/2026

In the 🇪🇺, the compromise text of the ***co Tax Directive would be much less effective than the European Commission proposal 📉

Under the compromise text, UPCT Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena finds that:

- very few Member States would need to raise their minimum tax in 2028 & the required adjustment would be much smaller, and
- the minimum tax would not keep up with higher inflation rates.

Learn more about the weaknesses of the compromise text under Cypriot Presidency & recommendations for decision makers 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/the-eu-council-compromise-text-under-the-cypriot-presidency-lowers-both-the-real-value-and-the-binding-force-of-the-eu-tax-floor-policy-brief/

04/08/2026

In 🇸🇰, & emerging ****ne product sales are increasing, with the largest uptick in e-ci******es & e-liquid 🔎

🆕 from Ekonomický ústav SAV finds that:

- consumers perceive e-ci******es, HTPs, & ****ne pouches as more attractive in Slovakia compared to the EU average, yet
- consumers support flavor bans & other regulations.

Among youth, use is also rising, with initiation from ages 13 to 16 & higher rates among girls than boys 📊

Learn more about these findings & recommendations for :

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/heated-to***co-products-and-emerging-ni****ne-product-use-in-slovakia/

03/27/2026

Now live on Economics for Health - EfH... country-specific outlining the findings from the 4️⃣th edition of the 📚

Check out the country profiles for 170+ countries & fact sheets for:

🇦🇱 Albania
🇧🇦 Bosnia & Herzegovina
🇧🇷 Brazil
🇪🇬 Egypt
🇮🇩 Indonesia
🇯🇴 Jordan
🇲🇪 Montenegro
🇲🇰 North Macedonia
🇵🇰 Pakistan
🇵🇾 Paraguay
🇸🇰 Slovakia
🇸🇷 Suriname

Stay tuned for more releases coming soon & reach out if you would like to request a fact sheet for your country 🔎

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/cigarette-tax-scorecard/

03/20/2026

Earlier this month, 3️⃣ Economics for Health - EfH team members participated in 📚

The researchers presented 🆕 evidence on:

- the association between border length & illicit trade,
- online delivery sales laws and their effect on youth **ng, &
- the association between recreational retail rollout and substance use intensity.

Thank you to Society for Research on Ni****ne and To***co for the opportunity to share our findings with colleagues & learn about their endeavors!

Read more in our 👇
https://www.economicsforhealth.org/blog/economics-for-health-presents-new-research-on-illicit-to***co-e-ci******es-and-cannabis-retail-at-srnt-2026/

03/19/2026

An alternate ***co tax system in 🇧🇩 would improve & raise tax revenues in FY 2026-27 📈

Specifically, 🆕 estimates that this proposal would:

1️⃣. encourage nearly 0.5 million adults to quit smoking & prevent more than 372,000 youth from initiating use, saving over 371,700 lives in the long-term; &
2️⃣. generate more than BDT 85,000 crore in ***co tax revenue, BDT 44,000 crore more than the previous fiscal year.

Learn more from experts at Campaign for To***co-Free Kids, Vital Strategies, World Health Organization (WHO), & Economics for Health - EfH 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/raising-to***co-taxes-in-fy-2026-2027-protecting-health-and-financing-government-reform/

03/16/2026

🆕 on the 🇪🇺 finds that the impact of the revised draft of the ***coTaxDirective on would be relatively small & temporary 🔎

To***co accounts for only 2.3% of the consumption basket in the European Union. Relative to baseline , the TTD revision would:

1️⃣. Only increase inflation between 0.1 & 0.4 percentage points in most Member States in 2028, with no change in 5 Member States, and
2️⃣. Result in a cumulative effect of 0.3 percentage points from 2028 to 2030, decreasing each year, from 0.13 percentage points in 2028 to 0.08 percentage points in 2030.

Learn more in the from UPCT Universidad Politécnica de Cartagena 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/the-to***co-tax-directive-reform-and-inflation-a-modest-and-temporary-effect/

03/12/2026

📢 The Economics for Health - EfH in is now live!

We are also excited to release the fact sheet 🇮🇩 in Bahasa Indonesia, which highlights opportunities for the country to improve its tax policies by:

- simplifying the complex tiered structure,
- regularly raising tax rates, &
- reducing cigarette affordability.

Read the translated 👇
https://www.economicsforhealth.org/uploads/Cigarette%20Tax%20Scorecard%204th%20Edition_IND_v3-0.pdf
.. & 👇
https://www.economicsforhealth.org/uploads/factsheet_indo%20(6).pdf

03/10/2026

Coming soon... 🆕 translations of the 4th edition of the Economics for Health - EfH to:

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We hope that these will be useful resources to highlight ways can improve ***co tax policies around the world 🌏

Stay up to date on all of our releases & findings 📚

The newly released 4th edition of the Economics for Health Cigarette Tax Scorecard scores cigarette tax policy performance in 171 countries on a five-point scale using data from the World Health Organization's biennial Report on the Global To***co Epidemic, providing policy makers with an actionable...

03/05/2026

🆕 findings estimate annual economic cost of ***co use in 🇧🇩 at BDT 875.44 billion, or 1.58% of GDP 🔎

Specifically, the shows:
🏥 a health-related burden of BDT 730.63 billion, including direct & indirect costs, and
🌏 an environment-related burden of BDT 144.81 billion, including waste, land degradation, & pollution, yet
📉 to***co taxes only amounted to ~BDT 400 billion.

Learn more from Institute of Health Economics-IHE, University of Dhaka & Economics for Health - EfH 👇

https://www.economicsforhealth.org/research/the-economic-costs-of-to***co-use-in-bangladesh-an-updated-estimate-including-health-and-environmental-damages-working-paper-series/