WHO official advocates for tobacco tax increase in Vietnam to curb smoking rates

At a Tuesday conference on the adverse effects of tobacco and the role of tax policies in mitigating them, Angela Pratt, WHO representative in Vietnam, highlighted the affordability of tobacco as a key challenge. She pointed out that while incomes have risen, the price of tobacco has remained low, making it easily accessible. Pratt emphasized that increasing the tobacco tax is the most rapid and effective solution to this issue.

According to a 2020 WHO report, the average cost of a tobacco packet in Vietnam is less than $1, making it one of the cheapest in the Western Pacific region. This low cost makes tobacco easily affordable for teenagers.

A 2021 report by the Southeast Asia Tobacco Control Alliance (SEATCA) noted that as Vietnam’s per capita income has increased, tobacco has become even more affordable, leading to higher purchasing power and consumption.

Data from the General Statistics Office shows that from 2022 to 2023, tobacco production in Vietnam increased by over 10%. In 2023 alone, 5.3 billion tobacco packets were produced domestically.

Pratt argued that a higher tobacco tax would not only reduce smoking rates but also redirect consumer spending to other goods, boosting government revenue that could be reinvested in sectors like healthcare and education.

A WHO model suggests that implementing a special consumption tax of VND15,000 (60 cents) per packet, along with a product tax rate of 75% of manufacturing costs, could reduce the smoking rate among males to below 36% by 2030. Additionally, the tax could generate an additional VND29.3 trillion in revenue by 2030.

Vietnam ranks among the top 15 countries with the highest number of tobacco users, with 15.3 million smokers and 33 million passive smokers. Smoking-related diseases claim approximately 40,000 lives annually in the country.