No place for cheap alcohol: the potential value of minimum pricing for protecting lives

ABSTRACT

The WHO European Region has some of the highest levels of alcohol consumption and correspondingrates of alcohol-related harm in the world. Pricing policies and taxation are among the most effectivemeasures that policy-makers can use to address these harms, but they remain underutilized acrossthe Region. There has been growing interest in recent years in a relatively new form of pricingpolicy to decrease alcohol affordability and consequently consumption – minimum pricing. Thisreport discusses this (as yet) not widely used policy and its potential for improving public health andexamines how minimum pricing policies should be applied alongside alcohol taxation measures.It reviews the status of implementation of minimum pricing globally, provides an overview of themost recent evidence behind the policy, addresses its main strengths and limitations and offerspractical considerations for countries.