2022 European study conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe demonstrates that taxation is not necessary to impact sugary soft drinks consumption
According to a 2022 European study conducted in collaboration with the World Health Organisation (WHO) Regional Office for Europe, taxation is not necessary to impact sugary soft drinks consumption. In the main, larger, or at least similar, declines in the proportion (%) of adolescents drinking sugary soft drinks daily have been reported in countries which have not introduced a soft drink tax, compared to similar countries with soft drinks taxes.
The data comes from the Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study (HBSC), which estimates frequency of sugary soft drink consumption in nationally representative samples of adolescents. HBSC data is collected as part of an international study in collaboration with the World Health Organisation Regional Office for Europe. (HBSC study | Health Behaviour in School-aged Children study)
This study compared data from six European countries which introduced a soft drinks tax between 2001-2002 and 2017-2018 with data from neighbouring countries which had not introduced a tax. Daily sugary soft drink consumption was found to have
- declined in Poland (no tax), but not in Hungary (with tax);
- declined in Italy (no tax), but not in France (with tax);
- experienced a larger decline in the Netherlands (no tax) compared to Belgium (with tax);
- experienced a larger decline in Spain (no tax) compared to Portugal (with tax);
- experienced a similar decline in Sweden (no tax) compared to Finland (with tax).
- Latvia was the only country where the proportion of adolescents drinking sugary soft drinks daily declined post-tax compared to its neighbour – Lithuania (no tax).
The study can be found here.