ArticleAnnals of Saudi medicine
Impact of taxation policy on tobacco consumption in Saudi Arabia.
Article in Annals of Saudi medicine. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Smoking prevalence and emerging tobacco product use among Saudi adolescents: a systematic review.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- Prevalence and correlates of smoked and smokeless tobacco use in Saudi Arabia: evidence from the 2021 national health survey.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Healthcare Financing in Saudi Arabia: A Comprehensive Review.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2024Review
- Early Assessment of Impact of Increased Value Added Tax on Smoking Behaviors and Financing among Adult Smokers in Saudi Arabia.Iranian journal of public health · 2023Article
- Factors associated with the desire to quit tobacco smoking in Saudi Arabia: Evidence from the 2019 Global Adult Tobacco Survey.Tobacco induced diseases · 2023Article
- The burden of chronic respiratory disease and attributable risk factors in North Africa and Middle East: findings from global burden of disease study (GBD) 2019.Respiratory research · 2022Article
- The associations between the credibility of the tobacco control regulatory body and smoking behavior change among Saudi smokers.Tobacco induced diseases · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundTaxes on tobacco products that increase the price and target demand-reduction have been shown to be an efficient means of reducing tobacco consumption. A new policy introduced in 2017 has increased the price of a 20-cigarette pack of the most popular brand to 27.50 SAR (7.33 USD) with the tax portion being 68.09%, which is within the yardstick recommended by the World Bank.
objectiveAssess impact of taxes on cigarette consumption.
designRetrospective econometric analysis. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: The annual importation of cigarettes containing tobacco (commodity code 24022000) in metric tons (as a proxy measure of consumption).
methodsAn econometric analysis of cigarette prices and consumption was performed using the methods of the World Bank Economics of Tobacco Toolkit. The impact was assessed statistically through price elasticity of cigarette demand. The study used yearly data for the period 2013-2019 to compare the price elasticity of demand according to the change in price. Cigarette consumption was equated to cigarette imports (dependent variable), and correlation with the cigarette price, income, education, and unemployment was assessed as independent variables of interest.
resultsAnnual importation of cigarettes declined by 27.41% for the period 2013-2019 after the imposition of ad valorem and value-added taxes in 2017 and 2018, respectively. The price of a pack of cigarettes increased by 115.1% from 2016 to 2018. The per capita consumption was inversely correlated with price *
conclusionThe modification of tax policy in 2017 has resulted in a decrease in both cigarette affordability and consumption. An additional 42.67% increase in the price, or pack price of 35.81 SAR (9.54 USD) might offset the increase in individual income noted in 2019 and maintain the decreased affordability. LIMITATIONS: The lack of more granular data on cigarette sales and more reliable data on prevalence. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.
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