2023-12-05 21:08:36
The member states of the World Health Organization (WHO) should increase taxes on the consumption of alcohol and sugary drinks, the United Nations health agency indicated today after publishing data on these tax measures and a guide of recommendations on the matter for governments. .
According to these data, although 108 countries apply taxes on sugary drinks and 148 on alcohol, these are insufficient measures to encourage healthier behaviors, the WHO emphasizes. which remembers that alcohol consumption causes 2.6 million deaths a year and unhealthy diets kill 8 million.
For example, the WHO considers the average tax rate applied to sugary drinks to be insufficient, at 6.6%, or regrets that in 22 countries, mainly European, wine is not included in alcohol taxes.
“Taxing unhealthy products would create healthier populations, and has a positive impact on society, in the form of less disease and more revenue for governments to provide public services”commented the WHO director for health promotion, Rüdiger Krech.
In the case of alcohol, furthermore, Greater taxation can reduce violence and traffic accidents, added the expert.
The WHO gave Lithuania as an example of a country that is advancing these measures, where revenue from taxes on alcoholic beverages rose from 234 to 323 million euros between 2016 and 2018. period in which deaths related to this consumption fell from 23.4 to 18.1 per 100 thousand people.
A 2017 study cited today by the WHO indicated that increasing taxes on alcoholic beverages by 50% could save 21 million lives over half a century and generate $17 trillion in additional tax revenue, A figure equivalent to what some of the largest world economies collect in total in a year.
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