Modelling the impact of increased alcohol taxation on alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region

An assessment of the impact of increasing alcohol excise duties on the burden of alcohol-attributable cancers in countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) European Region has been published in The Lancet Regional Health – Europe. The modelling study was produced by scientists from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in collaboration with the WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases and partner institutions in Germany and Canada.

The researchers estimated that almost 11 000 new cancer cases linked to alcohol and almost 5000 cancer deaths linked to alcohol could have been avoided in the WHO European Region in 2019 by doubling the current excise duties on alcoholic beverages. This represents 6% of new alcohol-attributable cancer cases and 6% of deaths linked to alcohol consumption in the region during that year. The largest potential reductions in cancer deaths were estimated for female breast cancer and for colorectal cancer.

These results show that taxation can effectively reduce the burden of alcohol-related cancers. WHO recommends increasing excise duties as one of the best measures to reduce alcohol consumption in the population.

Kilian C, Rovira P, Neufeld M, Ferreira-Borges C, Rumgay H, Soerjomataram I, et al.
Modelling the impact of increased alcohol taxation on alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European Region
Lancet Reg Health Eur, Published online 15 September 2021;
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2021.100225

Read the article 

Visit the Cancers Attributable to Alcohol subsite of the IARC Global Cancer Observatory

View infographics on the burden of cancer caused by alcohol 

Read the WHO Regional Office for Europe press release