Sugary drinks and alcoholic beverages are getting cheaper due to consistently low tax rates in most countries, fuelling obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancers and injuries, especially in children and young adults, the World Health Organization has said, calling on governments to significantly strengthen these taxes.

The UN health agency recently released two new global reports, where it warns that “weak tax systems are allowing harmful products to remain cheap while health systems face mounting financial pressure from preventable non-communicable diseases and injuries”. The combined global market for sugary drinks and alcoholic beverages generates billions of dollars in profit, fuelling widespread consumption and corporate profit, it said. Yet governments capture only a relatively small share of this value through health-motivated taxes, leaving societies to bear the long-term health and economic costs, it added.

The reports show that at least 116 countries tax sugary drinks, mainly sodas. But many other high-sugar products such as 100 per cent fruit juices, sweetened milk drinks, and ready-to-drink coffees and teas escape taxation. A separate WHO report showed that at least 167 countries levy taxes on alcoholic beverages, while 12 ban alcohol entirely. Despite this, alcohol has become more affordable or its price remained unchanged in most countries since 2022, as taxes fail to keep pace with inflation and income growth, it said. Wine remains untaxed in at least 25 countries, mostly in Europe, despite clear health risks.

The WHO called on countries to raise and redesign taxes as part of its new ‘3 by 35’ initiative, which aims to increase the real prices of three products — tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks — by 2035, making them less affordable over time to help protect people’s health.

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Published on January 26, 2026