Cigarette Tax Scorecard (4th Edition): Spotlight on Sub-Saharan Africa

This Policy Brief was written based on the findings of the fourth edition Cigarette Tax Scorecard. The policy brief evaluates the cigarette tax policies in Sub-Saharan Africa. In 2024, the average score in the region was 1.43 points out of 5, demonstrating that there is significant room for improvement. The overall score is an average of the following components: the cigarette price, changes in affordability, the tax share of the price, and the excise tax structure used. The Sub-Saharan African region performed best on tax structure, with an average score of 2.96 points. Tax structures in the region are somewhat effective, but there remains room for improvement given the low scores in the other components. The region performed most poorly in reducing the affordability of cigarettes over time, earning an average score in that component of just 0.37 points out of 5, followed by 0.94 points in tax share. The prices of cigarettes in most countries have not even been keeping up with inflation or income growth and tax shares are very low. Cigarette tax policies varied throughout the region. The top performer was the Lesotho, with a score of 3.5 points, while Somalia received 0 points and five countries followed closely with a score of 0.5 points. This brief provides further recommendations for governments in the region to address these challenges and improve public health while raising tax revenues.

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View the recording here, and the presentation slides from EfH's Jeffrey Drope here.

Read the entire 4th edition of the Cigarette Tax Scorecard here.