Research

Accelerating Progress on Effective Tobacco Tax Policies in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Regional Study

This report focuses on tobacco markets, tobacco tax systems, tax structure, pricing of tobacco products, and elasticity estimation in seven countries of the SEE region.

Across the SEE region, there are similar trends in the overall policy environment, including the strong influence of industry as well as considerable lack of progress in tobacco control. However, some country specificities exist. Albania does not have tobacco product manufacturing. B&H has the highest share of tax in retail prices. Retail prices of cigarettes in Croatia are the highest in the region while Macedonia has the lowest. Montenegro has the highest prevalence rate, and Serbia has the highest level of production and export of cigarettes in the region and could be considered a production hub.

A corresponding Policy Brief can be found here.