Sugary drinks and alcoholic beverages are becoming increasingly affordable in many countries due to persistently low tax rates, contributing to rising rates of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancers, and injuries, particularly among children and young adults. The World Health Organization (WHO) has released two global reports highlighting the urgent need for governments to strengthen taxes on these harmful products, warning that weak taxation allows them to remain cheap while health systems face growing financial pressure from preventable noncommunicable diseases and injuries.
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus emphasized that health taxes are a powerful tool to promote well-being and prevent disease. By increasing taxes on tobacco, sugary drinks, and alcohol, governments can reduce harmful consumption while generating revenue to fund essential health services. Despite the vast profits generated by the global sugary drink and alcohol markets, governments capture only a small fraction of this value through health-focused taxes, leaving societies to bear the long-term health and economic costs.
The reports reveal that while at least 116 countries tax sugary drinks, many high-sugar products such as 100% fruit juices, sweetened milk drinks, and ready-to-drink coffees and teas remain untaxed. Similarly, 167 countries impose taxes on alcoholic beverages, yet alcohol has become more affordable or remained unchanged in price in most nations since 2022, as taxation fails to keep up with inflation and income growth. Wine, for instance, remains untaxed in at least 25 countries, mostly in Europe, despite clear health risks.
WHO warns that cheap alcohol drives violence, injuries, and disease, disproportionately affecting public health while industry profits flourish. Tax shares on alcohol remain low globally, with median excise shares of 14% for beer and 22.5% for spirits, while sugary drink taxes are weak and poorly targeted, often applying to only a subset of beverages and accounting for a median of just 2% of the price of a common soda. Few countries adjust taxes for inflation, allowing these harmful products to become progressively more affordable over time.
In response, WHO is urging countries to raise and redesign taxes on alcohol and sugary drinks through its new 3 by 35 initiative, which aims to increase the real prices of tobacco, alcohol, and sugary drinks by 2035. The initiative seeks to make these products less affordable over time, protecting public health and reducing the burden of preventable diseases and injuries.
